The founders of the joint venture (50/50%), allivate GmbH, have set themselves the goal of establishing, operating, and further developing cargo community systems for air freight handled at Rhine-Main Airport. In addition to this, they intend to drive the digitalization of air freight processes swiftly ahead – both at Frankfurt Airport and beyond.
Dakosy is a household name within the European IT landscape as an enabler of advanced cargo communications systems, digital processes at airports and seaports, as well as for providing automated and tailored customs processes (eDeclarations) for clearing goods, entering or leaving the EU. The company is operator of the Port Community Systems that manages most processes at the seaport of Hamburg, and it runs the cargo platform FAIR@Link on behalf of its users, Hamburg and Frankfurt Airport.
Serving 1000 users
As far as Frankfurt is concerned, newcomer “allivate” will be managed on an equal footing by Martina Schikorr (Fraport) and Dirk Gladiator (DAKOSY) who have been appointed as Managing Directors. According to MD Schikorr “allivate” sends a strong signal to the cargo community: “A well-functioning digital infrastructure is a must-have for every modern cargo hub. We want to offer our customers the most efficient cargo community system possible so that their processes keep running simply, smoothly, and quickly 24/7.” She adds, that roughly 1,000 forwarding agents, trucking companies, ground handlers, airlines and general sales agents utilizing Frankfurt, will benefit because thanks to “allivate”, they all are offered a single point of contact onsite.
Processes will be faster and more efficient, claim the JV managers
Both executives emphasize that, the use of the cargo community system is not mandatory for Fraport’s freight customers. As soon as the scheme is established, the digital basis for even more efficient ramp control will be in place. Imports will be accelerated thanks to electronically transmitted authorization to pick up shipments, landside delivery processes will be coordinated more effectively, and the transport of paper documents by vehicle within the airport between the various interfaces would be eliminated completely. “In future, data will be transmitted via the new platform at the speed of light, with a single click,” enthuses Max Conrady, Head of Cargo Development at Fraport.
Not starting from scratch
Customers will benefit from the synergies resulting from “allivate”, predict Schikorr and Gladiator. Thanks to its long-time experience, operator Fraport contributes comprehensive airport know-how to the JV and acts as a neutral link between the local cargo players and the authorities. DAKOSY adds its wide-ranging IT expertise in all aspects of cargo handling and customs clearance, as well as many years of experience in the development, operation, and technical support of the Cargo Community System; states the company in a release.
“Pooling our strength”
MD Dirk Gladiator emphasizes that air freight handling and digital infrastructure are inextricably linked: “We are pooling our strengths and can therefore launch innovations and digital solutions onto the market faster. The active role of the Air Cargo Community in Frankfurt plays an important part, as together we jointly develop all digital processes along the supply chain right on the spot.” The community he mentions is growing continuously; it currently has 70 members from all sectors of the air freight industry.
e-Commerce is main beneficiary
According to the “allivate” managers, the platform has already taken a vital role in enhancing the processes in Frankfurt and will significantly improve the hub performance thanks to increased digital data transparency. Existing DAKOSY contracts with freight companies will be transferred to “allivate”. Especially for incoming e-commerce shipments on the East Asia-Europe Trade Lane, it will become a useful tool for deconsolidating and forwarding the packages thanks to the digitalization of processes, emphasizes Fraport manager Conrady.
There is no location exclusivity for “allivate”. The platform could also be established at other airports to optimize freight processes there.
Again, Germany is more than 1 decade late on digitization efforts. Should in principle be good news for the German air cargo community, if the new player focuses on aligning all airport stakeholders in Germany. Hope the results will not turnout like in the Netherlands where the monopoly-charging behavior of similar providers had disgruntled the community. It’s worth looking to leverage existing formats available to 99% of the community before trying to push for new proprietary standards.