Cargo 2000 has certified Brussels-based ground handler, Aviapartner, for meeting the cargo handling requirements of its quality management system.
Aviapartner became an Associate member of Cargo 2000 three years ago. To gain accreditation, cargo handling organisations must demonstrate how they are meeting Cargo 2000's standards and how this is supported through its operational processes, customer service and internal quality system.
Operating at 37 airports in five countries ' Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy ' Aviapartner provides services to over 400 airlines across its network. The company handles some 268,000 aircraft a year and nearly 1.5 million tons of cargo.
Heath White, Chief Operating Officer of Aviapartner, said: 'Cargo 2000 is very important for us and forms a base pillar of our central quality program being managed through the head office and individual units. Cargo 2000 is a focal point of many of the airlines and shippers' quality programmes and it will form the basis of ours.'
Aviapartner has acknowledged that a growing number of its customers are using Cargo 2000 as their quality assessment programme within individual service level agreements. 'For us, it shows clearly how processes are working with regards to the movement of cargo,' added Heath White.
Lothar Moehle, Regional Director EMEA of Cargo 2000, said: 'We are extremely pleased to award certification to Aviapartner in recognition of its commitment to meet the Cargo 2000 quality standards. The volume of quality processes being measured by members, leading to improvements in the speed, reliability and cost efficiency of air cargo, is at its highest ever level. To continue this and to reinforce Cargo 2000 as the industry quality standard, companies like Aviapartner have an important role to play on behalf of their airline customers that recognise the value of working to our agreed standards.'
Identified as a key pillar of IATA's e-Freight program and with its membership at an all-time high, Cargo 2000 publishes the quality standards of its airline and forwarder members each month.
Cargo 2000's quality system is now measuring over 987,000 route maps per month (April 2008), a year-on-year increase of +465,000. In April, 93,188 lane segments were measured (+22,901) while under Phase 1, shipments measured during the month exceeded 137,000 (+24,925) and the number of lane segments measured rose by over 4,5000 to 28,778. Flown-as-planned performance to Cargo 2000's quality standard rose to 89% (+3%) in April while FWB Correct ' measuring booking quality level and accuracy of data ' was 2% higher at 93%.
Cargo 2000 is a group of some 60 major airlines, freight forwarders, ground handlers, trucking companies and IT providers. Its members are in the process of implementing re-engineered air cargo transportation processes from shipper to consignee using Cargo's 2000's 'Master Operating Plan'. This sits at the heart of an industry-wide process control and reporting system that drives data management and corrective action systems. By more than halving the number of individual processes in the air cargo supply chain to just 19, Cargo 2000 is less labor intensive and improves the process for managing shipments in a paperless environment. It substantially reduces time spent managing irregularities, such as service failures, cuts the time required for manual track and trace procedures and leads to a reduction in service recovery costs.
The program is being implemented in three distinct phases. Phase 1 manages Airport to Airport movements - shipment planning & tracking at Master air waybill level. Once a booking is made, a plan is automatically created with a series of checkpoints against which the transportation of every air cargo shipment is managed and measured. This enables the system to alert Cargo 2000 members to any exceptions to the p
