News / Kale Logistics facilitates use of eAWBs, with no upfront investment

© Tascha Rassadornyindee

The air cargo industry could save up to 20% on administrative costs related to air waybill (AWB) processing, thanks to an initiative by Kale Logistics.

Kale has introduced a service called PING, which helps companies create an e-air waybill (eAWB) without investing in new technology.

It enables pdfs of AWBs to be converted into standard messages, as well as APIs and, to support handlers, airlines and forwarders, Kale is offering free trials.

“We stand by the industry during these tough times and would like to offer these business continuity services to the air cargo industry,” said CEO Amar More.

“Kale understands that the industry has limited ability to invest in new tools in such trying times, so has taken it upon itself to offer a completely cloud-hosted, outcome-based service model with zero upfront investment for its e-services.

“The cloud-enabled services reduce cargo handling time with automation. We are experiencing tremendous demand for these e-services which are so pertinent in these pandemic times.

“PING is extremely easy configurable service. It can be subscribed to by simply sending an email to [email protected].”

The air cargo industry has struggled to fully implement e-AWBs, even in the good times, although there are signs that the crisis has accelerated the pace of change. IATA’s monthly report on eAWB penetration shows a high of 69% in mid-January, falling to 68% in mid-February, but is now on the rise again and was up 0.5 percentage points last month.

The benefits of eAWBs are even clearer in the crisis, cutting paperwork and manual operations.

Mr More added: “Our research has shown that the air cargo industry can save between 15% and 20% of its administrative costs related to AWB processing by using this service, in addition to keeping business continuity and employee safety in these difficult times.”