BAS Limited is first company to use e-freight in Malta

BAS Limited is the first company in Malta to send e-freight shipments from Malta, which aims at taking the paper out of air cargo and to replace it with the exchange of electronic data and messages.

“Although the world has advanced significantly technologically, air cargo still relies heavily on paper documentation for the exchange of information and each international airfreight shipment can require more than 30 different paper documents pushing up the cost of airfreight and lengthening transport times”, said general manager Ray Buttigieg.

Kenneth Tabone, e-freight co-ordinator at BAS Limited said: “The concept of e-freight therefore comes as a sigh of relief for the airfreight industry which while expediting the shipping process is also a valid contribution to the safeguarding of the global environment since IATA e-freight aims to eliminate more than 7,800 tonnes of paper documents, the equivalent of 80 Boeing 747 freighters.”

Mr Tabone stressed that BAS is very proud to have been the first company to use e-freight, having already shipped via the Emirates and Lufthansa routes. Facilitated by IATA, the project is an industry-wide initiative involving carriers, freight forwarders, ground handlers, shippers, customs brokers and customs authorities.

E-freight’s benefits include lower costs with an average annual savings of between US$3.1 and US$4.9 billion for the industry (depending on the level of adoption); faster supply chain transit times – shipment documentation before the cargo itself can reduce the end-to-end transport cycle time by an average of 24 hours; greater accuracy – allowing one time electronic data entry at point of origin reduces delays to shipments due to inaccurate or inconsistent data entry; electronic documents also have a lower risk of being misplaced, so shipments will no longer be delayed because of missing documentation; and regulatory compliance.

IATA e-freight meets all international and local regulations relating to the provision of electronic documents and data required by customs, civil aviation and other regulatory authorities. In 2009 e-freight was live in 24 locations and by the end of 2010 it will be extended to 44 locations and 76 major airports.

BAS Limited offers services in air, land and sea transportation and the company has established a firm footing in the transport of cargo. Its alliance with DHL Global Forwarding gives BAS Limited the advantage of being able to offer specialised and tailored logistics solutions to Malta’s local and international customers.