Facts & Figures

Fact Sheet: IATA e-freight

IATA e-freight is an industry-wide program that aims to reduce the use of paper documents in the airfreight supply chain by moving to a simpler, paper-free, electronic environment. It involves among others: airlines, shippers, freight forwarders, ground handling agents, and customs authorities.

Target:

  • 23 IATA e-freight live locations, 40 live major airports by end 2009 (compared to 18 locations and 21 major airports at end 2008)
  • 44 IATA e-freight live locations by end 2010 – which will account for 81% of all international airfreight
  • Increase the number of international documents replaced to 16 by end of 2009, 20 by end 2010
  • E-freight implementation in the top five domestic markets by end 2010

Benefits

  • Industry cost savings of up to US$4.9 billion annually
  • Speed: reduction in transfer time by 24 hours
  • Accuracy: Electronic documents  eliminate manual entry errors
  • Visibility: Electronic messages allow for online tracking and tracing
  • Better for the environment: IATA e-freight will eliminate more than 7,800 tonnes of paper documents, the equivalent of 80 Boeing 747 freighters filled with paper.

Status:

  • The project is aligned with WCO’s and UN’s global e-customs initiatives
  • IATA e-freight business process, standards, and documents developed
  • 23 live IATA e-freight locations
    • Australia, Canada, Chinese Taipei, Denmark, Dubai, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Iceland, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mauritius, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Spain, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland UK and USA
  • 43 live major airports
  • IATA has launched a Message Improvement Program, to improve data quality and penetration of electronic messages particularly
    • The FWB (Master Air Waybill)
    • The FHL (House Manifest)
  • Airlines track the quality and quantity of electronic messages received and report data to IATA every month
  • IATA consolidates and assesses the data to identify frequent problems and opportunities for improvement
  • To date, 39 airlines and 19 freight forwarders participate in the program
  • A commercial vendor community has been established to support the IATA e-freight vision, pilots, and e-messaging quality measurement. 
  • IATA e-freight Handbook, the comprehensive guide to IATA e-freight, now published and available online
  • 14 documents have been replaced by electronic messaging standards

Savings

  • Up to US$4.9 billion per year when fully implemented

Updated November 2009