Paperless Air Cargo and Logistics Solutions to Boost Productivity Across Supply Chain

Fourteen air cargo and logistics companies adopt new innovative e-freight@Singapore solutions to enhance productivity and accuracy in airfreight documentation processes across the supply chain. These solutions were developed by three consortia - Innosys Pte Ltd, Kewill Pte Ltd and vCargo Cloud Pte Ltd – which were selected by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) in February last year through an industry call-for-collaboration.

Speaking at the launch event of these e-freight@Singapore solutions today, Mrs Josephine Teo, Minister of State, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Transport, highlighted that e-freight@Singapore provided a new model for achieving sectoral-level productivity transformation and cost savings that would benefit all stakeholders - shippers, freight forwarders, ground handling agents and airlines.

Government supports industry adoption of solutions

CAAS, as the champion of e-freight@Singapore, together with partner agency IDA, has been advancing the e-freight@Singapore solutions to enhance Singapore's competitiveness as a leading global air cargo and logistics hub. CAAS and IDA provided funding to the three consortias for the development of their solutions, as well as incentives to support new companies coming on board to adopt these solutions. These companies can expect funding support for the costs incurred for manpower, purchase of hardware/software and e-freight transactions carried out.

A key priority in the implementation of the e-freight@Singapore solutions has been to ensure a smooth transition from paper to electronic documentation for companies. Necessary training and deployment support were provided to companies to ensure seamless transfer of processes to e-freight, with minimal disruption to business operations.

In addition, the three consortia leads have established an interoperability agreement to ensure that electronic messages can be transmitted seamlessly between users regardless of which solutions they are using.

Strong support for e-freight@Singapore from the industry

The Singapore Air Cargo Agents’ Association (SAAA) and the Singapore Logistics Associations (SLA) are industry partners supporting the e-freight@Singapore programme.

Mr Steven Lee, Chairman of SAAA, said, "The Singapore Aircargo Agents Association is fully committed to this initiative and has been a strong supporter of the e-freight@Singapore programme since its inception. This initiative will further enhance the supply chain as data transmitted electronically can be re-used in downstream activities. In order to remain competitive, the air cargo industry must continue to create value and increase efficiency across the supply chain."

Mr Gerry Tan, Honorary Secretary and Chairman of Air Cargo at SLA, added, "Amidst the current landscape of on an ever-shrinking air cargo traffic volume, it is imperative that service failures such as longer dwell times, erroneous handling and damages be kept at a minimal. Today, air travel can connect any passenger anywhere in the world within 24 hours but strangely the same cannot be said for air cargo. Traditional local enterprises must be prepared to embrace more advanced yet inexpensive IT solutions such as e-freight. It helps improve lead times, enhance shipment visibility and reduce administrative burdens. Perhaps we should take a leaf out of our "passenger e-travel" industry's book."

About e-freight

A typical airfreight flow includes the shipment of goods and the management of information and business processes between multiple parties locally and overseas. Each international airfreight shipment requires the processing of more than 30 different paper documents, increasing the cost of airfreight and lengthening transport times.