e-freight goes paperless in Dubai

The Middle East has finally ushered in the much important IATA e-freight initiative with Dubai becoming the first in the region and just 14th in the world to go for paperless cargo operations. This is believed to be a new milestone for the air cargo space.

The new IATA e-freight initiative has gone on stream from Dubai and is currently operational on the trade lanes between Dubai and Singapore, Hong Kong and London. The initiative is being spearheaded by Emirates Airline and Dubai Customs.

The Dubai IATA e-freight implementation team started work in June 2008 and delivered IATA e-freight on schedule, in a co-ordinated exercise which also involved Dnata, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, British Airways, Schenker, DHL Global Forwarding, Kuehne and Nagel, Modern Freight Company, Freightworks, and the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

IATA e-freight is one of five “Simplifying the Business” projects led by IATA to improve service and cut costs. It puts in place business, technical and legal frameworks to enable airlines, freight forwarders, customs administrations, ground handling agents and governments to seamlessly exchange electronic information and e-documents instead of paper.  IATA e-freight eliminates the need to send 13 paper documents with air cargo shipments, effectively streamlining processes, improving speed and reliability, and reducing costs.

The launch of IATA e-freight in Dubai is likely to take Emirates into a more efficient era for air cargo. IATA e-freight is an initiative for a US$55 billion business that generates 12 per cent of airline revenues and has broad implications for e-trade and the global economy, it is believed

On its part, Over the past 10 years Dubai Customs has been working with other government departments and the private sector to facilitate faster processing of legitimate trade movement in Dubai.  Over the last five years the department has managed to register an average yearly growth of more than 22 per cent on the value of imports and exports in Dubai.

This growth is said to have aided Dubai Customs to take necessary steps to deliver paperless trading to improve business performance and the timing of the IATA e-freight initiative compliments Dubai Customs’ other projects to make paperless trading a reality within Dubai.  Currently, Dubai Customs processes over 75 per cent of all declarations through electronic channels.

In addition to Dubai, IATA e-freight is currently operational in Australia, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Luxembourg, Mauritius, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. The industry has set a deadline of the end of 2010 for the implementation of e-freight where feasible.