In a bid to reduce both the amount of paperwork and time needed to process airway bills and other travel documents necessary for cargo shipments, Ethiopian Airlines (ET) will, by the end of the year, introduce e-freight to certain cargo destinations.
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| IATA e-freight in a nutshell (IATA) |
Launched in 2004 by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), e-freight aims to take the paper out of the air cargo supply chain and replace it with cheaper, more accurate and more reliable electronic messaging.
However, before participating in the e-freight initiative, Ethiopian must first fulfil several IATA criteria amongst which include a High Level Assessment (HLA) and a Detailed Level Assessment (DLA).
"Ethiopian has already passed HLA and is finishing with the DLA, according to an official in the cargo department involved in the project. In addition, if a country is to send cargo using e-freight system, it needs to be a signatory of an international agreement that the destination country is a participant of."
The e-freight project is an industry-wide initiative involving carriers, freight
forwarders, ground handlers, shippers and customs authorities. Eliminating paper documents will save between USD3.1 and 4.9billion industry-wide, in addition to the obvious environmental ramifications.
IATA is aiming at 100% e-freight penetration in the
industry by 2015.
