Mercator draws international cargo players to Dubai for first e-freight summit

Organisers were delighted to welcome over ninety delegates to Dubai, representing more than thirty airlines from across all continents.

The conference was made up of speeches, panel discussions, a tour of Emirates Sky Cargo's Mega Terminal and SkyChain product demonstrations.

At the heart of the conference were discussions on the benefits of implementing IATA's e-freight initiative. Dubai is currently the only e-freight compliant cargo hub in the Middle East.

Duncan Alexander, Vice President, Mercator, said:

"We were all pleased and surprised to welcome delegates from so many airlines to Dubai for this first conference. The response clearly shows there is a great deal of interest in Mercator and our cargo offering and that the industry is eager to know more about IATA's e-freight initiative. We were able to demonstrate how replacing paper processes within outdated systems in the cargo supply chain with SkyChain's integrated software make cargo processes more efficient and therefore help reduce cost - a critical factor in these challenging economic times."

Mercator's SkyChain product is currently live at Emirates SkyCargo and Swiss Cargo facilities and is currently being implemented at Virgin, Sri Lankan and TACA. This new platform removes paper from all areas of cargo operations whilst enabling true visibility of cargo profits from shipments.

Steve Smith, IATA's Director, E-Freight, joined Stan Wright from Dubai Customs in a key panel debate which highlighted that e-freight is not just about being efficient but gaining a competitive edge in the international marketplace.

At the Cargo Forum gala dinner Mercator made a presentation of their own award "The Mercator Cargo Airline of the Year" which was awarded to Swiss WorldCargo. They were selected for this in recognition of their contribution to further enhance the SkyChain system.

Further conference speakers included Ram Menen and Niranjan Navaratnarajah from Emirates SkyCargo, Mark Anthony Bondonno from Danzas, Erkka Suvbikumpu from Finnair Cargo and Ricardo Samayoa from TACA.