Stockholm, Sweden January 20, 2003 British Airways World Cargo has signed up to be the first customer for a new service from DSG-Tradevision to meet the standards of Cargo 2000 certification.
Cargo 2000 is a quality and standardization program set by the Cargo 2000 group formed by the major forwarding agents and airlines under the auspices of the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The main objective of Cargo 2000 is to set the rules for agreed business processes and automation standards within the air cargo industry.
DSG-Tradevision, a subsidiary of logistics solution provider Descartes Systems Group, offers a common data management platform (CDMP) to meet the standards of Cargo 2000 certification.
Monitoring shipments at the master air waybill level from airport to airport, the Cargo 2000 solution developed by Descartes will provide British Airways World Cargo with a quality management tool to assist the company in complying with Cargo 2000 certification.
Information provided by the system such as quality report compilation, shipment status, exception alerts, route map creation and departure-time reporting should enable better decision-making for fulfilling customer expectations and help to ensure standardized processes for improved service levels, according to Descartes.
"British Airways World Cargo has been working with DSG-Tradevision for the past six months to ensure we are in a position to begin monitoring airport to airport Cargo 2000 shipments at London Heathrow, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Frankfurt," said Les Howell, manager for systems and supplier management at British Airways World Cargo. "We plan to run a complete set of Phase 1 Cargo 2000 reports beginning February 2003 upon successful user acceptance testing of the CDMP."
Ron Cesana, project director for Cargo 2000, welcomed this latest announcement as a further sign of British Airways World Cargo's commitment to Cargo 2000's quality management system. "It is important that members of our group continue to force the pace of progress," Cesana said. "Working in association with a professional organization like DSG-Tradevision will make this easier to achieve."
Manuel Pietra, Descartes' co-CEO and president, said the company's Cargo 2000 solution will simplify business processes and provide up-to-date status and transport quality information. "Through the proactive management of shipments, improved service levels can be achieved," Pietra said.
British Airways World Cargo is the fifth largest international cargo airline, carrying freight, mail and courier shipments across a global network spanning nearly 200 destinations in over 80 countries.
