The International Air Transport Association has enhanced the digitalization of the supply chain for dangerous goods with the launch of Dangerous Goods AutoCheck and e-Dangerous Goods Declaration at the World Cargo Symposium in Dallas, Texas.

According to IATA, DG AutoCheck is a digital solution which allows the air cargo supply chain to check the compliance of the Shipper’s Declaration for Dangerous Goods against all relevant rules and regulations contained in the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations. This will enhance safety and improve efficiency in the transport of dangerous goods by air and support the industry’s goal of a fully digitized supply chain.

“The air transport industry handles in excess of 1.25 million dangerous goods shipments transported per year,” said Nick Careen, senior vice president of airport, passenger, cargo and security at IATA. “With the air cargo growth forecast at 4.9% per year over the next five years this number will rise significantly. To ensure that air cargo is ready to benefit from this growth the industry needs to adopt modern and harmonized standards that facilitate safe, secure and efficient operations, particularly in relation to carriage of dangerous goods. DG AutoCheck is a significant step towards achieving this goal.”

The tool enables electronic consignment data to be received directly. Optical Character Recognition technology also transforms a paper DGD into electronic data. This data is then processed and verified automatically using the XML data version of the DGR. DG AutoCheck facilitates the decision of ground handlers or airlines to accept or reject a shipment during the physical inspection stage by providing a pictorial representation of the package with the marking and labelling required for air transport.

“The DGR lists over 3,000 entries for dangerous goods, each one of which must comply with the DGR when shipped,” said David Brennan, assistant director of cargo safety and standards at IATA. “The paper DGR is 1,100 pages long. Manually checking that each Shipper’s Declaration is compliant and the packages are correctly, marked, labelled and packaged is a complex and time-consuming task. Automation with DG AutoCheck brings us a giant step forward. The cargo supply chain will benefit from greater efficiency, streamlined processes and enhanced safety.”

An industry working group consisting of more than 20 airlines, freight forwarders, ground handlers and express integrators supported the development of DG AutoCheck, including Air France-KLM Cargo, Swissport, Panalpina and DHL Express.

“The air cargo supply chain is currently undergoing a major digital evolution,” Careen said. “Collaboration across the industry is essential if the goal of a digitized electronic end-to-end messaging platform is to be realized. There is no time to lose; our customers already expect the efficiency of electronic documentation throughout the supply chain.”

The adoption of the e-Dangerous Goods Declaration standards is an electronic approach to manage the IATA Dangerous Goods Declaration.

The benefits of implementing the e-DGD with clearly defined data governance include improved transparency, traceability and data quality, which will in turn improve process efficiency and reduce errors and delays.

This is line with industry initiatives to modernize air cargo processes efficiently and share critical data among stakeholders that need it.

“The e-DGD demonstrates the air cargo industry’s commitment to modernize processes,” said Glyn Hughes, global head of cargo at IATA. “The challenge now is implementation so that the benefits can be realized by the supply chain and, more importantly, by our customers.”

The e-DGD was developed through the IATA Cargo Services Conference, with key support provided by proof-of-concept partners Air France-KLM Cargo, Lufthansa Cargo, Swiss WorldCargo and Cargologic.

“The e-DGD is an important step in the digitization of air freight documents,” said Elisabeth Herelier, EVP of Air France Cargo. “By using data sharing principles, the e-DGD brings a new opportunity to introduce further automation and artificial intelligence exploration in air transport processes. Our ultimate goal is to increase quality, transparency, efficiency and customer satisfaction. Air France-KLM Cargo is proud to be among the inspirers and architects of this achievement at CDG airport.”

Implementing the e-DGD will require cooperation between all stakeholders, including shippers, forwarders, carriers, ground-handling agents and third party providers.

At Lufthansa Cargo’s hub in Frankfurt, platform operator Dakosy has implemented an eDGD platform called Infr8-eDGD for collaboration between shipper, forwarder and carrier. The platform will be the basis for the eDGD process supported by Lufthansa Cargo.

“e-DGD is one important component of Lufthansa Cargo’s digitization strategy to provide a holistic digital environment for our customers,” said Jan-Wilhelm Breithaupt, vice president of global handling at Lufthansa Cargo. “Only when all stakeholders of the supply chain find benefits in the solution, will digitization be successful on such a large scale. This was taken into account for the e-DGD standard, and we’re happy to perform the pilot project with industry partners in our hub in Frankfurt.”

The partners will complete the proof of concept in the summer of 2018 and hope to come to a decision on a standard by the end of the third quarter of the year.

“e-DGD is a powerful step forward for the air cargo industry, and the digitization in this offering can translate to direct benefits for Swiss WorldCargo customers,” said Ashwin Bhat, head of cargo at Swiss WorldCargo. “We anticipate that it will ensure a standardized, successful way of working, thus continuing the efficient collaboration between all our partners and stakeholders within the supply chain.”