Cargo 2000 will eliminate fragmentation in the worldwide air cargo industry and deliver a common platform that brings together reliability, predictability and proactive shipment management with reduced costs and improved customer satisfaction, says the group's Chairman, Mick Fountain.

His comments came as Cargo 2000 announced the first stage of performance data for its airline and freight forwarder members. Network flown as planned performance ' joint airline and forwarder performance that does not reflect the party responsible for the underlying service failure ' averaged 90% in May 2005 while Cargo 2000's quality measurement for 'FWB's Correct' was 85%. Over the past eight months, flown-as-planned measured by Cargo 2000's members has improved by eight per cent and FWB data has been enhanced by 32%. Updated figures will now be published each month on Cargo 2000's website.

During May, Cargo 2000's members measured performance across 16,800 lane segments worldwide and created 148,797 route maps for shipment movements. In February 2006, Cargo 2000 plans to begin publishing 'net net reports' that will show the individual performance of members.

Addressing an audience of 100 air cargo industry leaders in London, Mick Fountain said, "We are at a stage where we have to move forward and that is really about starting to publish results. We know there will be good news and bad news in the monthly data we report but we need transparency around the information we are producing and how we are meeting deadlines for the future to actually achieve our goal.

"We are working in a very complex environment trying to get one platform for the whole industry, not just in terms of the sheer scale of what we have to do but also because we work in a very fragmented industry. Cargo 2000 is the prime initiative to bring the air cargo industry together but there is still a long way to go.

"However, there cannot be anybody who could intellectually argue against having one common platform for the transfer of information for the air cargo industry with total transparency."

His commitment was echoed by other members of the Cargo 2000 Board that participated in the briefing. Scott Dolan, President of United Cargo, highlighted the different metrics previously applied by airlines to measure flown-as-planned performance, stating that one of the keys to delivering reliability and predictability is the application of process and the interpretation of standards. "It's amazing that we're all in the same industry and talk the same way about it, yet the reality couldn't be further from the truth. We believe Cargo 2000 has set a foundation to move forward to ultimately exceed our customers' expectations," he said.

To date, Cargo 2000 members have contributed over 3,000 man days to develop technical specifications. The group's CDMP suppliers have invested a further 8,000 man days in bringing the system to life and this, in turn, enabled some 150,000 route maps to be created last month with over 1.4 million quality checks made as these shipments moved to their destinations. Dolan added: "This is a very complex initiative. A lot of people have been involved in it with little short-term benefit but we all believe in the long-term gains that can be achieved."

KLM Cargo currently accounts for 25% of shipments and lanes reported. It uses Cargo 2000 standards to monitors all traffic between 56 stations worldwide, representing 35,000 shipments per month.

Bram Graeber, Senior Vice President Commercial for the airline, said: "Cargo 2000 is sharpening our internal discussions on quality reporting and quality improvement and good quality always delivers greater efficiency. We can also see how improved transparency is helping in relationships with our customers. I do believe there is some gain to be made from a customer preference point of view because it makes KLM Cargo easier to do business with.

"We are very competitive on price and capacity but every carrier has to fulfil those two basic objectives and then you start com