News Content

CCS-UK to speed up cargo deliveries and collections at Heathrow

THE user group for the CCS-UK air freight community system is working on a new module to speed up deliveries and collections at London Heathrow Airport transit sheds.

CCS-UK Advanced Info will enable freight agents, and transport companies working on their behalf, to alert handling agents of deliveries, down to House AWB level, as well as submit Electronic Consignment Security Declarations (eCSDs).

The advanced information - including vehicle, driver, cargo being delivered, handling agent and expected time of arrival - will be submitted either through a web portal (for smaller, occasional users), while larger and more frequent users can send messages direct from the forwarder's own system.

Agents using the system will benefit from pre-allocated truck doors to help reduce queuing. Handling agents meanwhile will receive cargo information direct into their systems, eliminating re-keying, speeding up vehicle processing and enabling more efficient use of their resources.

Integral data stores of all users, drivers, vehicles and transit sheds will be used to populate new shipment entries, avoiding re-input of existing data. CCS-UK Advanced Info will also eliminate a number of paper documents, in line with the IATA e-Freight concept.

CCS-UK Advanced Info will be launched at Heathrow first, but will eventually be rolled out to all airport communities in the UK.

Said user group chairman Steve Parker: "As the community trade body for virtually all the UK air cargo industry, we believe we are the natural source for community solutions that will speed up air cargo flows in the UK, so improving our air cargo industry's efficiency and competitiveness, London's Air Cargo News reported.

"CCS-UK Advanced Info is a major step towards eliminating inefficiency and cost in the UK air cargo industry. It provides tangible benefits for everyone and, as with our recently-launched CCS-UK Fallback system, it is being provided completely free to all our members."

Unveiling of CCS-UK Advanced follows the recent launch of CCS-UK Fallback, which provides an electronic safety net in the event of a major outage of HM Revenue and Customs "Chief" computer system.

A handling agent, an air freight haulier and three air freight forwarders (including two majors) are already successfully using early functions of CCS-UK Advanced Info and the system is progressively being rolled out industry-wide.

Said Mr Parker: "There has been some talk of enforcing the adoption of Advanced Information by means of entry barriers at airport cargo terminals, allowing access only to pre-registered vehicles on payment of a charge."

However, while this might be beneficial at some point in the future, the user group firmly believes that restrictions should not be introduced before suitable off-airport holding parks can be made available, where registered and unregistered trucks can be segregated - otherwise there will be bottle-necks at the barriers.