Call for companies to take part in pilots for new Cargo iQ initiatives

By Ariaen Zimmerman, Executive Director, Cargo iQ

At our recent board meetings and our working group in Kuala Lumpur, Cargo iQ adopted two new projects: Care Mapping and Service Parameters.

Both are very exciting, important projects for our membership and we look for companies to participate in pilots, both inside and outside the Cargo iQ community. Through these pilots we want to learn more on how to best implement our ideas into real industry standards and processes.

Care Mapping

Care Mapping is the next logical step for Cargo iQ. Currently, we offer tools and standards for planning and control, as well as for process and provider evaluation of shipment movements.

Now, through Care Mapping, we intend to provide these tools also for the conditions under which a shipment is being moved: the shipment care. The scope for this project covers the complete supply chain and our ambition is to offer quality control options on top of the existing and emerging quality assurance programs in the industry, such as IATA’s CEIV programs.

Cargo iQ has already executed a feasibility study and created a proposed concept. This concept is unique in its simplicity and scalability with providing both top-down planning elements for shipment custody as well as bottom-up planning and transparency for actual care activities by the various operators in the air cargo supply chain.

The initial focus will be on pharma related services, however we foresee this methodology to apply to any other type of care as well, such as for valuables, live animals, perishables, etc.

Service Parameters

Cargo iQ is evaluating and offering planning and control for shipment services as close possible to the conditions that were agreed for these services. To do this we need a way to translate possible differences between services into a digital format.

This is as important for Cargo iQ as it is for the industry as a whole; we need to allow the ever developing digital world to express and value the differences in the products our industry has to offer. Our initial focus will be on services based on Total Travel Time as opposed to our current itinerary based approach.

About the pilots

We have limited spots available for companies to join on these pilots that we want to have with a diverse group of companies representing the supply chain. We are looking for air cargo shippers, air and road carriers, forwarders, GHA ramp and warehouse operators, as well as for IT and CDMP providers.

Cargo iQ has agreed to cooperate closely with IATA’s Digital Cargo team, on these two projects. They will benefit greatly from industry support in data exchange and fit very well with the data sharing standard ONE Record that they are testing and developing. Our close cooperation with other industry groups will be announced at the commencement of the pilots.

If you want to get involved in the pilots, contact me at zimmermana@iata.org or a member of my team.