More volatility means forwarders and shippers need to work more closely
As uncertainty knocks trade confidence, forwarders need to be closer than ever to their customer, delegates ...
HD: DIY RE-PRICINGZIM: A RISING TIDE LIFTS ALL BOATSTSLA: CHINA THREATDAC: KEY REMARKSDAC: SURGING GM: SUPPLY CHAIN WOESMAERSK: ROTTERDAM TEMPORARY SUSPENSION OF OPERATIONSATSG: OWNERSHIP UPDATERXO: COYOTE FILLIP GONEGM: SUPPLY CHAIN HITBA: CUT THE FAT ON THE BONER: STEADY YIELDMAERSK: SELL-SIDE UPDATESDAC: TRADING UPDATE OUT SOONTSLA: FEEL THE PAIN IN CHINAWMT: GUESS WHATXPO: SURGINGAMZN: LOOKING FORWARD
HD: DIY RE-PRICINGZIM: A RISING TIDE LIFTS ALL BOATSTSLA: CHINA THREATDAC: KEY REMARKSDAC: SURGING GM: SUPPLY CHAIN WOESMAERSK: ROTTERDAM TEMPORARY SUSPENSION OF OPERATIONSATSG: OWNERSHIP UPDATERXO: COYOTE FILLIP GONEGM: SUPPLY CHAIN HITBA: CUT THE FAT ON THE BONER: STEADY YIELDMAERSK: SELL-SIDE UPDATESDAC: TRADING UPDATE OUT SOONTSLA: FEEL THE PAIN IN CHINAWMT: GUESS WHATXPO: SURGINGAMZN: LOOKING FORWARD
IATA’s OneRecord will benefit the air cargo industry, but only if everyone is on board, delegates at last week’s World Cargo Summit heard.
OneRecord is an IATA standard for data sharing that creates a single end-to-end record of a shipment, shared via a standardised API (application programming interface}, facilitating communication between air cargo stakeholders.
Asked if OneRecord was “useful”, Stéphane Graber, director general of FIATA, said it was “a very difficult question”.
“I will try to be politically correct here. I think, if we look conceptually, the move to OneRecord is the correct move,” he said. “But when you talk about digitalisation, it’s important to not only consider the technical solution, but also the governance behind it, and how this is implemented with the different actors.”
Due to the multiple parties involved in the movement of airfreight – airports, airlines, shippers, customers, customs, ground handlers, etc – a single universal data-sharing platform only works effectively if all parties choose to adopt it, delegates heard.
Indeed, Eduardo Arenas, VP of cargo revenue management at Avianca Cargo, said that while standardisation was beneficial, “you have a lot of actors that are still not onboard with it”.
He added: “For example, in the regions where we operate, usually customs have their own plans. They recently implemented the XML messaging system, so they won’t be changing what they just implemented, and we will have to meet the different systems and requirements from them.”
Wilson Kwong, CEO of HACTL, added that “the use of OneRecord very much depends on [our] customers”.
“If there is a system, a tool which really benefits the entire industry and brings benefits to all the stakeholders, I think it’s for us to really embrace it… As a ground handler, we handle more than 100 airlines. Some have signed up, some have not.”
And Glyn Hughes, director general of TIACA, explained: “If some do and some don’t, then sadly it adds to the complexity. Complexity equals cost, equals risk.”
One delegate told The Loadstar on the sidelines of the event, that while they were keen to use OneRecord, “what’s the point if not everyone else does?”
Mr Andres urged: “Otherwise, we will have to then do this kind of ‘Frankenstein’ subsystem to make everything work… it must go somewhere where everyone agrees on what we can do.”
IATA’s goal is for all airlines and their supply chain stakeholders to have implemented ONE Record by 1 January 2026, but Mr Hughes said: “I think that’s a huge stretch. We see the benefits of it, but the pathway to those benefits is not necessarily super clear.”
Mr Graber added that if dialogue was not happening, “we will still be here on 1 January 2026 asking ourselves ‘what is OneRecord and how will it come?’.
“When we talk about OneRecord, we talk about increasing interoperability and interaction with others. I think it’s very important that we can discuss it, and we can try to find out how this should be implemented, because the purpose is to better connect people.
“I hope the discussion will take off a little bit more about how this can become something for the industry, and not just a project from IATA.”
The Loadstar is yet to receive a response from IATA.
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