Panel for e-platform to push air cargo biz

In a bid to facilitate the air cargo business, a panel set up by the Ministry of Civil Aviation has recommended the developing of an electronic platform to digitise key stakeholder interactions. The proposed Air Cargo Community System (ACS) is aimed at reducing documentation overheads, increase dwell times, and supply chain opaqueness.

“In India, to facilitate the Ease of Doing Business, it is recognised that an electronic platform be put in place to digitise key stakeholder interactions,” said the Report of the Committee on a National Air Cargo Community System.

This electronic platform can allow the reusability of data, thereby eliminating duplicate data entry, reducing unnecessary paperwork by giving authorised access to data to the relevant supply chain stakeholder, and bringing in supply chain visibility, reducing inventory and other transaction costs related to air cargo movement as a result, it said.

Acknowledging that the Indian air cargo industry is poised for significant growth through initiatives like ‘Make in India’, it said the ministry understands the need to have a single window for the air cargo community, which will interface with Indian Customs’ single window and facilitate seamless movement of goods and information.

At present, the report said, there is “lack of efficiency, transparency and consistency” across the supply chain, which results in “several pain areas” for the different stakeholders. The information exchange is many-to-many resulting in complex/duplicate processes and there is lack of uniformity for message interface and lack of data harmonisation.

Arguing for digitisation, the report said that lots of paper documents are still printed and data entry is duplicated, which leads to data inconsistency and delays. There is also a lack of end-to-end tracking.