Today, if you want to have tea that’s local to another continent, you can click, pay and receive it within a day or two. A couple of centuries ago, goods like tea traveled months on ships before reaching their consumers.
Modes of transport have evolved and so have the way we communicate. While ships still exist, airplanes, today, help move goods fastest within and between countries.
The average daily air shipments are about 140,000 tonnes of cargo worldwide. Moving goods through airlines is a meticulous task, especially overseas. Airlines require up to 30 documents in compliance for each shipment. That means scrambling through a ton of paperwork every day. Among other compliances, AWB needed a transformation.
Breaking away from the older process
The lengthy compliance process in air transport caused hindrances to effectively moving goods smoothly. Since the compliance involved a lot of time-consuming, labor-intensive processes, it necessitated a way out. And the introduction of e-AWB made compliance easier.
But it is vital to understand what some of the key issues with manual AWBs were that led to the introduction of e-AWB:
Mistakes in manual filing: Manually filing a lot of data creates a possibility of errors and doesn’t come to notice till a compliance failure.
The inability for real-time tracking: Manual airway bill does not allow for knowing the progress of air shipments.
Not cost-effective: Spending too much time in compliance and managing the data errors makes the meeting cut-offs difficult.
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Introduction to e-AWB
e-AWB transforms the process of air shipment compliance to paperless. While the fundamental purpose is to make the end-to-end process seamless and streamline the air cargo procedure. e-AWB helps:
- in simplifying and streamlining the process
- to cut down the time to processing the shipment
- reduce storage risk and costs associated with physical AWBs
Using an integrated e-AWB to connect global airlines
Further amplifying the EDI capabilities of e-AWB, forwarders can benefit from incorporating integrated e-AWB to connect multiple airlines from a single platform. With this integration, freight forwarders can send e-AWB & Advance Manifest information in electronic form and read the tracking information received back from the airlines.
The direct benefits of using integrated e-AWB embedded with freight software like Logi-Sys are:
- Fetch the milestone visibility of over 160 airlines
- Cost saving of up to 70-80% with combined e-filing of manifest and e-AWB
- Most airway bill data is pre-filled from master data without repeated entry
- Give customers the direct cargo status update as received from the airlines
With Logi-Sys’ integrated e-AWB filing, you can:
- Share Master and House AWBs with airlines
- View milestones right in the Logi-Sys app
- Make last-minute data changes until the cargo arrives
- Reduce document processing charges
It simplifies and speeds up sharing and accessing of accurate information, so cargo moves as scheduled and eliminates waiting time. Avoid duplication of data entry and help prevent errors and missing documents that could create potentially costly claims and delays.
Outcomes of a globally-connected airlines platform
Globally-connected airlines help minimize manual interaction and automate the data exchange with the connected airlines. Other benefits include:
Reduce the total cycle time: IATA claims that e-AWB processing by up to 24 hours.
Reduced errors: Since all data is already available in the system, data is auto-populated in the e-AWB.
Faster processing: Reduced or no data entry prevents any slowdown in your schedule.
Quicker intimation: Send relevant shipment information in advance of the cargo.
Takeaway
e-AWB has eased the lives of freight and logistics professionals. You can combine this with several other features of a freight ERP to unlock bigger benefits. By integrating e-AWB with the airline connecting platform, you reduce your data errors, making your air cargo shipping process more efficient.