E-commerce in the air cargo industry took another step forward this month when senior staff from nine major freight forwarders were the first to see Cargo Portal Services (CPS) in live operation. CPS is a comprehensive Internet portal that will allow freight forwarders to more easily book and manage a shipment through its lifecycle and effectively integrate their computer systems with those of the multiple air carriers, as well as reduce transaction costs. The successful demonstration comes only five months after CPS was announced by Unisys Corporation, United Airlines Cargo, Northwest Airlines Cargo and Air Canada Cargo.

"This service provides a critical next step to the Cargo 2000 initiative by combining the booking function with the operational tracking of shipments," stated James Kagawa, vice president, Information Technology of Kintetsu World Express. "While other e-commerce ventures we have investigated only 'accept' bookings, Cargo Portal Services is a quality product, which gives global forwarders the integration capability we need to offer our clients."

The forwarder group agreed that the Web site design was intuitive and easy-to-use. Laura Sanders, vice president, Lynden Air Freight, said, "The screens are very user-friendly, and the workflow mirrors how we do business today. This will virtually eliminate our need for additional training, and it means that our branches will be able to use the Web site immediately after the launch in January."

The other forwarders at the advisory session were also enthusiastic about the service. "The site is flexible and can handle single bookings, multiple bookings, and mass uploads, so it fits what our large gateway operations need," said Rich Zablocki, managing director, International for Emery Forwarding. "And all of this is done without any integration costs for the forwarder."

Cargo Portal Services operates on any PC that can support a major browser, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator.

The forwarder advisory group also includes senior staff from BAX Global, Eagle Global Logistics (EGL), National Air Cargo, Geologistics and others among the top 10 global forwarders. In December, this forwarder group will be invited to begin using the system in preparation for the global public launch in January. Unisys confirmed that it is in discussions with many other carriers who are interested in joining this carrier-neutral service.