MUNICH – Initial testing of an online compliance checking system that reduces delays by pinpointing mistakes on airway bills has successfully concluded. The system was developed as part of Schiphol’s Smart Cargo Mainport Program, and speeds up cargo flows by detecting data errors in air waybills.
“The Compliance Checker reduces delays in the supply chain and makes it more predictable and efficient for everyone,” said Jonas van Stekelenburg, head of cargo, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, during the Air Cargo Europe 2017 conference. He also told Air Cargo World that Schiphol was moving forward with its Venue program, which is a non-technological way to reduce bottlenecks at the airport by working with customs officials to verify certain shippers.
The system automatically inspects the content and format of a shipment’s data. Trials were carried out along the truck lane from Frankfurt to Amsterdam, on air cargo shipments from Schiphol, have been successful.
The system, developed by Cargonaut and tested by KLM Cargo, checks air waybill data and sends automatic alerts when information is incorrect. This prevents delays caused by sending non-compliant cargo to Customs.
The Compliance Checker “decreases delays, as well as the need to repeat work, and increases data quality, efficiency, and predictability in the supply chain,” Schiphol said.
The Compliance Checker is also compliant with inbound European Union Customs rules as well as outbound (US and other countries) rules. The system allows for easy modification and new rule sets, making it adaptable to different segments of the the air cargo supply chain can use it.
Marcel de Nooijer, executive vice president of Air France-KLM Cargo. “The newly developed Compliance Checker at Schiphol, which verifies all House and Master air waybills to compliance regulations throughout the complete shipment journey, from the moment the data enters our systems, is a perfect example of this.
“The system recognises different descriptions of a similar product and flags this,” said Nanne Onland, Executive Director, Cargonaut. “The term iron, for example, would provoke an alert, as this term is not compliant with Customs rules, whereas the term iron pipes would not cause an alert because it is compliant.”
So far, Compliance Checker has confirmed the “Pareto Principle,” showing that 80 percent of errors occur in only 20 percent of shipments at the airport. “With this insight, together with our partners, we can better target improvement initiatives, allowing us to quickly improve quality of data, and hence the predictability and speed of the chain from, to, and via Schiphol,” said Onland.