UPLIFT - Services

The cargo community in India has to grapple with many challenges to perform its core job- that of moving the cargo from one place to another safely and within time & budget. The movement of cargo in the Indian supply chain gets affected on account of multiple factors which contribute to higher lead time in the movement of cargo, increased paper work, delays and resulting loss due to wastage. These inefficiencies have created serious non-tariff barriers in India and have resulted in logistics costs as high as 13% - amongst the highest in the world.

What is needed is a collaborative effort to streamline the flow of goods & information across the supply chain. UPLIFT as �the platform of choice� for the Cargo Community in India helps perform all the Trade Transactions electronically, thereby getting rid of manual operations, paperwork and redundant data entry. Experts believe that 0.5% reduction in a country�s Logistics costs leads to 2% increase in GDP and 40% increase in its exports competitiveness.

Successful adoption of UPLIFT promises to deliver much more savings to the entire Cargo Community. UPLIFT addresses the key challenges faced by the cargo community stakeholders employing the air mode of transportation.

Shipper

Shipper�s Situation - Shippers (manufacturers and or merchant exporters) incur higher logistics costs due to lack of shipment visibility. For instance an exporter exporting intermediate material for a manufacturing needs to ensure that the shipment reaches the consignee in the agreed timeline. The shipper has difficulty in establishing the exact movement of the cargo and is unable to provide the shipment visibility information to the importer. If the shipment doesn�t reach in time the resulting stoppage of assembly line could result in significant losses to the importer. To avoid this importer may resort to stocking greater inventory resulting in higher inventory costs. This in turn has an adverse impact on the competitiveness of the Indian export industry.Even if the shippers� internal ERP systems are one of the best in the world yet they are of no help in interacting with partners such as Forwarders, CHA, Transporter, Banks and Consignee.

Lack of complete automation in current industry processes and procedures creates many hurdles in Shipper�s business. UPLIFT addresses all the major challenges faced by the shippers at present and also provides an interface for their internal system to exchange data directly with UPLIFT.

Challenges

Multiple follow-ups with forwarders for rate enquiry, shipment status and sending updates to consignees
Tracking enquiries and quotes received involves a lot of efforts and costs
Duplication of efforts in shipment data entry and transmission to the forwarder
Document transmission to forwarder happens only via fax/ e-mail or with physical cargo
Lack of cargo/shipment visibility
Increased costs to make systems compliant with e- freight & Cargo2000 standards
Lack of automation in filing, storage and tracking of documents renders historical data unavailable
To get information on service providers � the shipper has to screen multiple-data sources which are not always accurate.
Manual operations in challan filling, making payments with banks for export duty, invoices settlements etc.

UPLIFT Features

Shipper can enter shipment data and send it to the forwarder online
Shipper and Forwarder can upload shipment data from excel or other file formats on UPLIFT
e-Docket feature enables e-transmission of shipment documents and its archival
Checks & validations during shipment booking prevent entry of junk data into the system
Shipper can receive status updates via SMS/ e-mails
UPLIFT supports compliance to e-Freight and Cargo 2000

UPLIFT Benefits

�Single point for data entry� thus saving time, efforts & costs
Float multiple RFQ�s at a single click to designated service providers
Single window view helps the shipper to manage & track status of multiple RFQ�s floated
UPLIFT provides HAWB for validation & approval to ensure quick cargo clearance
Pre-defined formats for enquiries & booking requests to integrate with shipper�s internal system.
Online chat facility helps shipper renegotiate on individual quotes
Select milestones to schedule automatic emails/SMS/status updates
Create & transmit shipping documents online
A document checklist helps ensure compliance
Upload documents & image files
Shipper can make online payments through UPLIFT

Forwarder

Forwarder�s Situation - A forwarding organization co-coordinating the entire shipment movement has to interact with several stakeholders and most of these interactions are manual or semi-automated. The forwarder has to enter the same shipment data in at least 6-7 different systems during the movement of goods which results in delays, increased costs and errors. This leads to a situation where a forwarder has little time to strategize & plan for business expansion and is forced to focus his energy in dealing with day-to-day operational challenges.

UPLIFT addresses forwarders issues and provides them with a single window for all stakeholder interactions. It also provides a facility for them to automate their internal business functions. At the same time, it interfaces seamlessly with their existing internal systems to improve the efficiency of operations and visibility.

Challenges

Excessive data entry/administration costs
Lack of transparency resulting in penalties and delays
Frequent follows-ups with airlines, shippers, custodians
Increased communication costs
Customer dissatisfaction
Ever changing compliance standards

UPLIFT Features

Forwarder can view RFQ�s floated by shippers
Forwarder can view airline schedules.
Forwarder gain access to profiles of multiple service providers (airlines & other 3PL providers)
View past shipment records from the shipper
Forwarder can float RFQs and avail booking services online
Forwarder can create & forward quotes online to multiple shippers
UPLIFT allows quotation revision as well as receipt, evaluation & re-negotiation of quotes
E-Payments of Customs cess, duty and TSP charges
Online filing of SB, BoE & CGM on ICEGATE
Interact with Customs, custodian, banks and airlines via EDI messages
Send/receive pre-alerts on UPLIFT
Search based access HS codes
Updates on customs notifications & circulars
Online transmission and receipt of shipment documents & AWBs
UPLIFT provides end-to-end shipment visibility
It provides a single window to all custodians

UPLIFT Benefits

Forwarders can carry out online booking with multiple airlines
A single point of data entry in the entire supply chain helps save communication costs
Forwarder can check flight schedules and space availability on UPLIFT
UPLIFT facilitates online exhibition space for the community to buy, sell or promote services
End-to-end shipment visibility(cargo, documents & information) raises customer satisfaction
Forwarder can enhance the speed through online submission of SB, BoE and CGM
Real-time status updates, alerts and acknowledgements help the forwarder to provide proactive response to the shipper
Online filing of CGM will result in savings (due to elimination/reduction in penalties)
With UPLIFT , a forwarder can access a single portal to connect to multiple custodians for creation of TSP receipts
UPLIFT interfaces with the Forwarder�s internal operation system in pre-defined formats using flat file, csv, xml and xls

Airlines

Airline Situation �At present the Airlines in India do not get the shipment data electronically from the forwarder, since most of the forwarders do not have the capability for creating and transmitting the shipment data electronically. With the advent of UPLIFT, the shipment data including booking, HAWB, MAWB and manifest will flow directly into airlines operation systems (which are global and in other geographies receive such data electronically). Today airlines have to incur significant cost for this documentation and then managing the paper also becomes another cumbersome task. The airlines also do not get shipment visibility before the shipment reaches airport thereby making operational planning difficult for them.

UPLIFT addresses these key concerns of Airlines by providing a �one stop solution�.

Challenges

Receive enquiry & booking requests manually which increases costs and reduces profitability and there is no audit trail for future reference
Manual data entry into the internal system for booking & AWB data increases costs, reduces profitability and delays transportation
Heavy charges incurred to interface with customs and compliance issues add to the costs
Lack of visibility of cargo at the airport hampers the entire planning process for flights causing service failures / offloads
Airlines suffer revenue loss because of inability to reach the fragmented market efficiently
Airlines have to access multiple custodian websites for carting order approval & tracking status due to lack of consolidated view of all the cargo handled at an airport
Lack of validations for the data received from the forwarder leads to inaccuracy & variance
Airlines find it difficult to comply with global initiatives such as e-freight which adds to increased costs in storage / maintenance of physical documents.
In case of loss of papers, airlines failure to reproduce critical documents may result in penalties
Inappropriate charges on Waybills cause erroneous AWB information which in turn leads to revenue leakage & redundant data entry
Unavailability of a forum to advertise to different / remote markets of the Indian logistics community leads to ineffective brand building of airlines

UPLIFT Features

Electronic receipts of booking requests are delivered to airlines through UPLIFT
UPLIFT enables electronic receipt of Waybill data like MAWB/HAWB
UPLIFT provides customs interface for transfer of data like IGM / EGM / AMS/ EU customs
Airlines receive alerts from custodian / agent
Single window to custodians for sharing carting orders and shipment status
Proper validations provided at the data entry point during shipment booking and AWB processing
UPLIFT features e-dockets to store data like scanned images of MAWB / HAWB
UPLIFT helps airlines in disseminating rates to agents through a single channel
Airlines can leverage UPLIFT platform as advertising channel to communicate discounts & offers to entire community

Uplift Benefits

Airlines can now receive queries for schedules and availability online resulting in reduced efforts in handling enquiries
Online receipt of RFQ, Quotation floating and negotiation helps improve efficiency
E-submission of AWBs reduces the need for double data entry
Online filing of Manifests (FFM), issuance of Carting Order and online communication with customs helps reduce errors
Automation helps generate CAN, CSR / Invoice and deliver personalized alerts and messages to trade partners
Airlines can also drive business engagements & initiatives online through e-meetings and web casts
UPLIFT helps community members share & acquire industry best practices
Airlines can also utilize UPLIFT for advertisement of spot offers, discounts and rates
Uplift presents business opportunities for targeted marketing
Airline customer experiences improved customer service
Airlines realize cost savings from reduced paper-work, reduced communication costs & reduced upkeep of systems for interfaces with customs and custodians
With UPLIFT, the Airlines remain compliant to global initiatives such as e-freight / C2K
Airlines can receive status updates on cargo movement to and within airport terminal

Custodian

Custodians Situation- For Indian Custodians UPLIFT addresses their key concerns making it a much awaited community solution

Challenges

Unable to receive shipment data electronically from the forwarders/ airlines as forwarders do not have electronic data transmission ability and airlines have not amended their centralized systems to suit Indian operations.
At present they have to deal with a lot of congestion at the airports due to lack of visibility of shipments before they arrive at the airports.

UPLIFT Features

Uplift facilitates online receipt of validated shipment data
Proactive milestone alerts
Create Terminal Charges (TSP)
Make Online TSP payments

UPLIFT Benefits

Shipment data gets populated online in the Custodian�s system through MAWB
Online intimation of e-payments made for TSP and Demurrage
Reducing congestion at the airport within given infrastructural constraints
Getting more proactive alerts for preventing service failures
Better Customer Satisfaction by bringing better visibility to trade
Better compliance to initiatives such as e-freight and cargo 2000