dnata future proofs operations

0
584
dnata embracing the digital
Bernd Struck, dnata


As the industry adjusts to the ever-changing market, dnata, which has over 140 airline customers in the Dubai and over 15,000 employees, is entering the new year full steam ahead.

After the immense impact of the pandemic on the aviation industry, Bernd Struck, dnata’s senior vice president for UAE Cargo and DWC Airline Services, explained to ACW that focus currently lies on “rebuilding the demand with customers and suppliers to continue the flow of essential goods.”

“One of our key roles in Dubai is transportation of vaccines. At dnata we heavily invested before the pandemic in our cold chain and pharma handling capabilities,” he added.

Investing in the digitalisation of the cargo operator has been driving the business forward by both streamlining and optimising operations.

“In my opinion IT is the unique selling point of the future. You have to make processes efficient.”

Last year, Siemens Logistics implemented a smart just-in-time freight handling platform for dnata Cargo in Dubai, Appointment and Dock Management (ADM).

After over two years in the making, ADM enables freight forwarders to book an appointment with the cargo terminal to deliver and pick up consignments.

“After the first introduction of import services and just a couple of months ago the export section, the positive feedback from our customers has been outstanding,” recalled Struck.

“[Customers] can plan a lot better and they’re not held up in queues. They make an appointment and they can be sure this can be reliable where they can exactly schedule the needs of trucks, equipment and personnel collecting or delivering the cargo.”

He explained that the team are nearly at a point in which they can serve each customer within 30 minutes, “whereas before customers may have had to wait for hours to receive goods.”

Plans are set to continue to modernise processes.

“That’s our next goal, that we integrate other areas in Dubai, from traffic management outside of the airport, other free zones, other cargo facilities and find a single process to manage these requirements.

“That’s something we will for sure be going forward with in the next year or two, finding ideal solutions with a single point of contact and IT for our customers, where they can deal with all their requirements.”

Struck explained that a key part of this optimisation is dnata’s existing community “provide quality through the constant education and up-skilling of our people.”