Starting on 27 March, all shipments on feasible trade lanes will be carried electronically and a “paper-to-e-AWB” service will be introduced to digitise the few remaining paper air waybills at shipment acceptance.
The service is mandatory on feasible trade lanes for all forwarding companies not yet using electronic air waybills.
If local regulations require a paper copy, Lufthansa Cargo will reproduce the air waybill and it will accompany the shipment.
Ashwin Bhat, Chief Commercial Officer of Lufthansa Cargo says: “A majority of our customers already use e-AWB exclusively. With the new service, we can now easily take all customers with us on our digitisation journey and enable them to take the step towards paperless transports as well.”
Dr Jan-Wilhelm Breithaupt, Vice President Global Fulfillment Management at Lufthansa Cargo adds: “We have implemented the e-AWB process as an industry standard of IATA continuously and worldwide at Lufthansa Cargo since 2014. A five-year data quality initiative that effectively de-cluttered the data interface between customers and Lufthansa Cargo was, among other things, an important cornerstone that enabled sustainable e-AWB penetration and consistent top positions in global rankings.”