eCommerce and eLogistics: we need to move faster, says FIATA secretariat

The secretariat of FIATA, the International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations, has urged quicker adoption of electronic innovation in the logistics industry in the March edition of the FIATA review, its first publication of the year.

According to FIATA, in our increasingly interconnected and globalised world, the way forward for the industry is via a global legal framework, outlining the necessity of implementing electronic processes across the board. The aim is to support the growth of the industry and respond to the increasing customer demand arising from explosion of e-commerce in developing economies such as Russia.

The most essential piece of legislation, says FIATA, is the Montreal Convention of 1999, which came into force in 2003 and is known as MC99. The convention permits the use of electronic records for air waybills, permitting the industry to move towards paperless processes.

The air freight sector has doubtless lagged behind other sectors in its adoption of new technologies and electronic processes. It's certainly the case that the use of electronic Air Waybills is not uniform across the industry, with some airlines, and sub-sectors lagging behind the rest. The theme of FIATA's publication is therefore the demystification of this, an exploration of why some countries may have been slower to adopt the new processes, and an investigation into some of the available examples of  good practice.

The need for a paper air waybill can seem inconvenient when everything from banking to keeping in touch with a loved one can be done online. Thankfully, when booking air freight through air freight forwarders such as Transglobal Express, you can enjoy fully-automated online booking and electronic production of all the documentation you'll need. You can find out more here.