Emirates SkyCargo, four-times winner of the 'Cargo Airline of the Year' title, has confirmed its place as a market leader with SkyChain, a network of integrated systems for the management of cargo logistics.
"The airline has always placed innovation, flexibility and personal service at the heart of its operational philosophy. Now, SkyChain, developed by Emirates SkyCargo, Mercator and Sita, provides the airline and its customers with technology that will radically change the way the airline does business," an Emirates Sky Cargo spokesman said.
"The information behind SkyChain is to radically change the traditional way of doing business. Instead of all parties to the logistics chain working independently of each other, SkyChain links all parties together in a communications pipeline, from which one can extract and update the information one needs for the benefit of all."
With SkyChain, Emirates cargo customers can now perform the following functions from anywhere in the world using the Internet or email:
SkyChain's booking system marks a radical departure from industry practice by removing dependence on the airway bill number and introducing the Job Reference Number (JRN) - the cargo equivalent of a PNR (Passenger Name Record). Using the JRN, a booking record can be started by anyone, anywhere anytime up to 250 days ahead of transportation.
Emirates SkyCargo has taken its Internet initiative for supply chain management one stage further with the launch in 2000 of SkyChain Online.
"This creates a private business chat room, free from all telephone, fax and email charges, for all parties in the supply chain. They can communicate with each other in real time about a shipment, in effect, establishing a cargo chat room on the Internet," the spokesman said.
The SkyChain Online software is a communications system that not only allows secure, real time exchange of information on the Internet but also sends messages to another computer, a mobile phone or a fax machine and thus enables SkyChain-registered users to communicate with selected partners about any aspect of any shipment.
This second phase of Emirates SkyCargo's Internet initiative further establishes the airline as a partner in business, providing seamless cargo solutions that supplement and complement the trade process. Customers can access SkyChain directly on www.skychain.com or by accessing Emirates SkyCargo on www.sky-cargo.com and using a hyper link to access the SkyChain home page.
The airline's network is constantly expanding. With the launch of services to Casablanca, Khartoum, Perth, Mauritius, Osaka and Shanghai the number of destinations by the end of this year will reach more than 60 points in 44 countries.
"Emirates SkyCargo has always made the fast delivery of time-sensitive consignments its speciality. The airline's commitment to delivery-as-required is reflected in its priority products - Emirates Priority and Emirates Priority Plus - which include express and time-definite services and which support the growth of inventory management worldwide.
"Emirates SkyCargo has always recognised that world trade is the source of cargo traffic, with distribution being an integral part of any trade process, and has always, therefore, kept a finger on the pulse of trade fluctuations, rightly predicting that these will translate into new customer requirements," the company said.
With the focus in airfreight having shifted from simply flown-as-booked to delivery-as-required, Ram Menen, Emirates' director Cargo, says: "We now have to make goods available to the consignees at the time that they are required."
Ship-to-air transfers of less than a day are normal and a full aircraft load can be on its way to Europe just four hours after it has arrived at Dubai's Port Rashid by ship from the Far East.
Cargo carried is diverse, ranging from fresh UAE strawberries bound for UK supermarkets to the latest high-tech engineering device en route to a Middle East oilfield. Sixty per cent of consignments are time-sensitive consignments such as perishables - for example, live fish, fresh meat, fruits and vegetables. Emirates has steadily expanded its distribution capabilities through cooperation with service partners. On-time delivery anywhere in the world is ensured through interline agreements with airlines worldwide; road feeder services in the UAE, Europe, the UK and Australia; and the appointment of General Sales Agents. Emirates SkyCargo's trucking services in Europe have been extended with more frequencies and destinations.
Menen says: "Providing excellence of service in air logistics is our primary mission." From the start, Emirates' basic concept for SkyCargo was clear: minimum bureaucracy, positive thinking and providing customers with what they want.
With Dubai established as the distribution hub for West Asia - a market of 1.3 billion people - Emirates SkyCargo is well placed to link the economies of the Pacific Rim with their markets in the west, and has emerged in recent years as the premier gateway for the southern states of the CIS and for southern and eastern Africa. Ninety-seven per cent of Emirates consignments originate, terminate or transit Dubai. In February 2001, the new, superbly flexible, Emirates SkyCargo Centre, with capacity for 400,000 tonnes per year, became operational at Dubai International Airport and is tailored to the airline's requirements for its customers.
Emirates was named Cargo Airline of the Year 2001 by Air Cargo News and has won the title in 2000, 1999 and 1994/5. The same publication has also named Emirates as the Best Cargo Airline to the Middle East for 14 years running. Emirates has also been named winner of the Cargo Development Award by the international aviation journal Air Transport World and has won the Best Cargo Airline: Middle East title for seven years running at the Asian Freight Industry Awards.
