Emirates SkyCargo >>> Profile

Emirates Sky Cargo, the award-winning air freight division of Emirates, confirmed its place as a market leader with the launch of SkyChain, a network of integrated systems for the management of cargo logistics. The airline has always placed innovation, flexibility and personal service at the heart of its operational philosophy. Now, SkyChain, developed by Emirates SkyCargo, Mercator, the Emirates Group's IT subsidiary, and SITA, the leading telecommunications and IT services provider to the airline industry, provides the airline and its customers with 21st century technology.

SkyChain: automation to power change
The vision behind SkyChain is an information pipeline through which information can travel and from which anyone in the supply chain can extract and update the required information for the benefit of all.
Emirates cargo customers can now perform the following functions from anywhere in the world using the Internet or email:

- Check Emirates' flight schedules;
- Track and trace shipments;
- Check space availability on any Emirates flight;
- Make bookings on-line in real time;
- Register on-line as customers to receive added information and functionality, including email connection to the system;
- As a registered customer, use email to communicate with SkyChain.
- Customers can pass the full air waybill details to SkyCargo. The airline can use the information and distribute it to any other party in the transportation cycle in line with Emirates concept of a seamless information pipeline.

New booking method
SkyChain's booking system marks a radical departure from industry practice by removing dependence on the air waybill number and introducing the Job Reference Number (JRN) _ the cargo equivalent of a PNR (Passenger Name Record). Using the JRN a booking record can be started by anyone, anywhere anytime up to 250 days ahead of transportation.

Last year (2000), Emirates SkyCargo launched the second phase of its Internet initiative: SkyChain Online. This allows all parties in the supply chain to communicate with each other in real time about a shipment, in effect, establishing a secure business chat room for each consignment, free from all telephone, fax and email charges. Customers can access SkyChain directly on www.skychain.com or by accessing Emirates SkyCargo on www.sky-cargo.com and using a hyper link to access the SkyChain home page.

Emirates SkyCargo has enhanced its capability to serve the needs of cargo customers through the dedicated cargo centre located in the Dubai Air Cargo Village, with capacity for 400,000 tonnes per year and design that has stepped away from the traditional. Targeted operating standards are among the toughest in the industry - one hour for import perishables; two hours for expedited general cargo; five hours for general cargo; four hours for general exports and two hours for expedited exports.

A major feature of warehouse operation is the use by all staff of hand-held Telxon radio frequency terminals. These are, in effect, mini computers which not only scan but send and receive data from the main computer system by radio frequency. They reduce time, increase productivity and enable accurate measuring of performance.

On-time delivery
Emirates SkyCargo has always recognised that world trade is the source of cargo traffic, with distribution being an integral part of any trade process, and has always, therefore, kept a finger on the pulse of trade fluctuations, rightly predicting that these will translate into new customer requirements.

With the focus in air freight having shifted from simply flown-as-booked to delivery-as-required, Ram Menen, Emirates' Senior General Manager Cargo, says: "We now have to make goods available to the consignees at the time that they are required."

Ship-to-air transfers of less than a day are normal and a full aircraft load can be on its way to Europe just four hours after it has arrived at Dubai's port by ship from the Far East. Cargo carried is diverse, ranging from fresh UAE strawberries bound for UK supermarkets to the latest high-tech engineering device en route to a Middle East oilfield. Sixty per cent of consignments are time-sensitive consignments such as perishables - for example, live fish, fresh meat, fruits and vegetables.

Emirates has steadily expanded its distribution capabilities through cooperation with service partners. On-time delivery anywhere in the world is ensured through interline agreements with airlines worldwide; road feeder services in continental Europe, the UK and Australia; and the appointment of General Sales Agents. Emirates SkyCargo's trucking services in Europe have been extended with more frequencies and destinations.

Primary Mission
Ram Menen says: "Providing excellence of service in air logistics is our primary mission." From the start, Emirates' basic concept for SkyCargo was clear: Minimum bureaucracy, positive thinking and providing customers with what they want. Cargo is basically about logistics, working out customer requirements and delivering freight with the minimum fuss and on time.

Dubai - premier distribution hub
With Dubai established as the distribution hub for West Asia - a market of 1.3 billion people - Emirates SkyCargo is well placed to link the economies of the Pacific Rim with their markets in the west, and has emerged in recent years as the premier gateway for the southern states of the CIS and for southern and eastern Africa. Ninety seven per cent of Emirates consignments originate, terminate or transit Dubai.