ACU March 2022-LR

GLOBAL NEWS
FRANKFURT, Germany: Lufthansa Cargo announced it’s going completely paperless on
shipments starting 27 March 2022 in line with the International Air Transport
Association’s 2020 industry goal of going 100 percent digital on air waybills (eAWB) by
the end of this year.
Lufthansa Cargo said all shipments on feasible lanes will be carried with eAWB starting
this summer. It will also introduce a “paper-to-eAWB” service, through which the few
remaining paper-based AWBs will be digitized at shipment acceptance and then
continue to accompany the shipment as an eAWB.
“Over the past few years, we have driven many digitization initiatives in the air cargo
industry. In fact, eliminating paper AWBs in the future could be one of the most
important steps. A majority of our customers already use eAWB exclusively. With the new
service, we can now easily take all customers with us on our digitization journey and
enable them to take the step towards paperless transports as well,” explains Ashwin Bhat,
Chief Commercial Officer at Lufthansa Cargo.
Dr. Jan-Wilhelm Breithaupt, Vice President Global Fulfillment Management Lufthansa
Cargo, said the company is very pleased in achieving in its goal of transporting paperless
shipments.
“Our goal is to make communication with our customers easier, faster and better with
the help of our digital services. We have implemented the eAWB process as an industry
Lu hansa Cargo now
only flies with electronic
air waybills
standard of IATA continuously and worldwide
at Lufthansa Cargo since 2014. A five-year data
quality initiative that effectively de-cluttered
the data interface between customers and
Lufthansa Cargo was, among other things, an
important cornerstone that enabled
sustainable eAWB penetration and consistent
top positions in global rankings,” he said.
Lufthansa’s newly-introduced service is
mandatory on feasible lanes for all forwarding
companies that do not yet use electronic air
waybills.
Routes that are eAWB-feasible are those for
which the regulatory basis for the use of
electronic air waybills is in place. This means
that all shippers who have not been able to use
eAWB so far due to their own infrastructure can
also switch to paperless transports.
If local regulations in a country require the
presentation of a paper AWB, Lufthansa Cargo
will re-produce the AWB and it will accompany
the shipment on the flight. In addition to more
efficient transport routes and faster
information flows, paper is also saved during
transports. This sustainability aspect also plays
into the United Nations' sustainability goals
"Climate Action" and "Industry, Innovation and
Infrastructure," to which Lufthansa Cargo has
committed itself along with other goals.
Global air cargo makes a modest sta to 2022
LONDON, Great Britain: Against a backdrop of continuing market uncertainties,
general air cargo volumes in January 2022 recorded a modest 0.1% increase in
chargeable weight compared to the opening month of last year, according to the
latest industry analysis by CLIVE Data Services.
Cargo capacity in January 2022, compared to the first month of 2019, was -4%, and
up +6% versus January 2021, while CLIVE’s ‘dynamic loadfactor’ – which measures
both the volume and weight perspectives of cargo flown and capacity available to
produce a true indicator of airline performance – stood at 62%, +1% pts higher than
in January 2019, but -6% pts below the opening month of last year.
Airfreight rates remained high, compared to the pre-Covid level, at +156% in January
2022 versus January 2019, although this was the first time in six months that the gap
with pre-pandemic rates declined month-over-month, following December’s
+168% rise. Compared to January 2021, air cargo rates last month were +41%.
CLIVE, which earlier this month was acquired by Xeneta, the leading ocean and air
freight rate benchmarking, market analytics platform and container shipping index,
advises the air cargo market to be cautious before drawing strong conclusions based
on January’s performance.
“We see this as a respectful start to 2022 by an air cargo market still dealing with
uncertainties caused by Covid, as sick-leave and quarantine rules continued to affect
many industries and countries. We can see that the global air freight supply chain
remains fragile, with airlines cancelling flights upfront because of the lack of crew.
January has also reminded us that Covid isn’t the industry’s only concern,” said Niall
van de Wouw, formerly Managing Director of CLIVE and now Chief Airfreight Officer
New year, same story:
January 2022 global air cargo volumes, capacity
load factor rates developments (Weeks 1-4 of 2022
compared to same weeks in 2021 & 2019
Source: CLIVE Data Services, now part of Xeneta
at Xeneta.
“During the month, we saw other aviation
disruptors, including 5G concerns in the U.S,
extreme winter weather conditions
impacting flight schedules, and Chinese New
Year, which began two weeks earlier than in
2021. Measured against all these factors,
January’s performance shows there is still a
good degree of resilience in the global air
cargo market,” he added.
AirCargoUpdate
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