Leading French automotive group PSA, which includes the brands of Citroen, Opel, Peugeot and DS, has joined the Paris-based CIN FRANCE (Cargo Information Network). This cargo community system manages digitally air cargo traffic for all French airports for both import and export.
CIN was launched in January 2016 to track all freight traffic from factory to shipper up to the aircraft take off. The system connects to all customs applications, and guarantees the administration of export tax (VAT) from France.
By joining CIN. The PSA group is following the example of many exporters including Schneider Electric and Sanofi, some of the biggest French airfreight customers.
PSA can now track all its spare parts and urgent air traffic. The information about exports is available through CIN France including the road feeder operators, forwarders, airlines and handlers, sharing the data with Customs which avoids unreliable data.
Jean-Francois Bouilhaguet, president of CIN, previously CEO of SODEXI, a subsidiary of air France KLM, is certain that this system is the solution for traceability of general cargo.
“Air cargo traffic is clearly more economic than express freight but cannot guarantee the same quality of track and trace. This is mainly due to the number of different players in the chain. Also, the shipper may change his logistics providers according to business opportunities as well as price. The CCS can handle this flexibility without downgrading the quality of the data.”
JFB points out that all the forwarders who have already introduced their large exporting clients to this digital collaboration, have improved their business activities with these clients. “CCS guarantees transparency but above all, gives access to the data which is normally not available such as the details of ULDs loaded by the handler, the exact time that each individual ULD is moved to the apron and the exact moment as it is loaded onto the aircraft.
“The pharmaceutical exporters are demanding increasingly more information on real-time temperatures during transit through the different parts of the airport operation. Only the CCS has the capacity to supply this information as needed. It is a fact that amongst 40 Customs bonded warehouses CCS is the only service available for tracking these items.”
Bouilhaguet continues: “CIN France is now beginning to test interconnections with other CCS services with a view to tracking shipments to delivery at destination. France is able to benefit from its overseas territories with aviation management and Customs systems. Therefore with the connection to all these territories with CCS, CIN France is able to validate the quality of its e- freight connections and is ready to connect all these overseas units before sending the transaction data from or the AWB or HAWB or the package reference.”
Bouilhaguet stresses that that e-freight limited to the e-AWB has never, over the last 20 years, convinced the profession of its validity, despite endless pressure from the airlines.
“Today, only 65% of AWBs are by e-AWB. One of the main reasons for delaying to digitalise this is because thee-AWB does not obtain sufficient upstream or downstream data. The e-AWB was thought to facilitate the essential commercial and administrative relationship between forwarder and airline but forgot that airfreight costs are met by the shippers. Those who control the process, such as the Customs, have the real leverage to accelerate the digitalisation in airfreight, as they can access the necessary data about flow management.
“More large shippers in the field of luxury goods and vehicles will soon be joining CIN,” he says.
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