Air cargo digitalisation has come a long way but many challenges remain – some of which can be solved through the deployment of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
A panel discussion at Air Cargo Forum in Miami that was moderated by Aeroconcept managing director James Wyatt looked at how air cargo had developed over the past few years and where the industry is going.
Co-chief executive of rate portal cargo.One Moritz Claussen said industry digitalisation has come a long way over the past six years, primarily driven by the pandemic.
However, he added that air cargo is still “way behind” other sectors and warned that companies should not wait for standards to be produced before investing in digital technology.
“I’m not against standards but if we hide behind them we will wait for a very long time before anything comes into place and I think it is embracing new technology, such as AI, will be a huge change,” he said.
Claussen pointed out that large language models such as ChatGPT could already be used to translate 95% of formats used by companies, negating the need for a standard.
AI could also be used for “conversational” tasks to create efficiencies.
“A lot of the stuff we do on a day-to-day basis in this industry is conversational, whether it is a shipper reaching out to a freight forwarder in an email or a freight forwarder going to an airline to procure capacity.
“If we look at the conversational AI models that are out there, the large language models we have, a lot of this is already doable through technology.”
Claussen’s thoughts on standardisation were echoed by Raft chief marketing officer Greg Kefer.
“We are dealing with networks of companies and the idea of everyone agreeing to a standard, let’s just admit it right now, it’s not going to happen,” he said.
“This is why I am excited about AI because I think it can become that translator where you don’t have to force global ecosystems of 1,000s of other companies that all have their own system to do it your way. That is where I think AI can make a big difference.”
He also felt change management was another impediment to the wider adoption of digital technology, especially at larger companies where implementing new systems and training staff to use them is extremely costly.
However, Kefer, whose background is in container shipping tech, added that air cargo is not a “laggard” compared with other parts of the supply chain.
Awery Aviation Software founder and chief executive Vitaly Smilianets agreed that there had been a lot of progress but said there was a lot of manual work that could still be automated, such as using AI to improve aircraft utilisation and also to re-route cargo when delays occur.
Smilianets added that the key to improved adoption was getting buy-in from customers through education.
“When you really try to do something with [data] it is a really complicated process. Everyone is talking about APIs and standards and so on, but when you go to real life, you still need to invest time and money and this is where everything stops.
“Without the willingness and the ability of companies to share the data and see the benefits of doing it and its ability to bring more business, it will still be more talk than action.”
Smilianets would also like to see companies stop charging for API calls to drive faster adoption.
Unisys director of emerging solutions Jefferson Smullin said finding a solution to the standardisation conundrum was key.
“There is a lot of differentiation between the different industries and touchpoints and milestones in the cargo journey,” he said.
“Trying to find a standard or even marry this data and processes together and map it end to end is difficult and adds complexity.
“If you strip these processes down they are very similar from company to company but then they are going to differentiate themselves through the way they execute that and the services they provide and that differentiation only makes it harder to get to a standard, get to a commonality within that software.”
Kale Logistics chief executive Amar More added that removing security and competitive concerns around data sharing would also help further air cargo digitalisation.
“If we can get data collaboration right, we as an industry will be in a different place in just a few years. It is all about education and telling people you are not giving away more than what you are already doing on a piece of paper.
“If you still exchange data on paper it can be easily compromised. But if you exchange it on a cloud platform, there can be seven layers of cyber security, you are much safer. And even if you are compromised insurance companies can compensate you for that.”
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