ACAAI’s UPLIFT platform passes 50 customers milestone

The Air Cargo Agents Association of India (ACAAI), announced that its pioneering initiative – UPLIFT – which is an electronic collaboration platform for the Indian Logistics industry has crossed the significant landmark of 50 subscribers. Companies of all sizes ranging from SMEs to large organizations continue to choose the ACAAI promoted Cargo Community Platform – UPLIFT. This is a definitive step towards efficiency improvements in the Indian Logistics industry which is considered to be one of the most cost-inefficient industries with over 13% of GDP being spent on it.

UPLIFT is India’s first Cargo Community System facilitating Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) amongst the various players in the Logistics Value Chain. This system will address the needs of Air, Ocean and Multimodal Cargo by connecting thousands of Indian Freight Forwarders and Custom House Agents electronically with each other and with other Cargo stakeholders like Airlines, Shipping Lines and Customs amongst others. At present the exchange of information across the value chain is mostly carried out manually. This gap has been impacting the bottom lines of most of the stakeholders involved in cargo movement including the forwarders, carriers, port/airport operators, customs house agents etc. UPLIFT is a common platform which can be accessed by multiple stakeholders for automating, facilitating and rationalizing the exchange of information and transactional processes. UPLIFT helps the stakeholders to stay ahead of all industry changes without changing their in-house systems, and comes without the hassles of upgrades and maintenance.

A platform like UPLIFT assumes greater importance in the era of stringent security regulations and mandates of advance cargo information coming from European andUScustoms, owing to the integrated functionalities it offers.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. J. Krishnan, President – ACAAI said, “We have taken another important step towards our goal of providing through UPLIFT a platform of choice for the Indian Cargo Community. Since the joining of our 50^th customer Jet Airfreight we have passed the initial 50 customers milestone for the UPLIFT platform in a short span of six months since its launch. UPLIFT is the only community system which complies with all the evolving local and international industry requirements. For all industry players irrespective of their size, it provides complete shipment visibility and at a minimal transaction-based subscription cost. We are confident that UPLIFT will continue to experience a growing demand from Indian cargo community stakeholders and will also set international benchmarks for a complex airfreight business environment.”

Mr. Sumeet Nadkar, CEO & MD-Kale Logistics Solutions said, “The inefficiencies of the processes and complexities in data exchange in the Indian trade were well known to almost everybody. These have been often discussed and debated at various industry forums, however very little progress has happened on addressing it from the trade side. ACAAI has proactively taken the steps to address these by launching this pioneering EDI initiative in partnership with Kale Logistics. As a leading Information Technology solutions provider for the Logistics industry we feel privileged to be a part of this pioneering initiative which is set to create history.”

UPLIFT’s first customer, Mr. Anil Vazirani, Managing Director, Robinson Cargo Logistics Pvt. Ltd. and Chairman, ACAAI EDI Committee said “A smoother flow of information along with documentation and compliances to regulatory statutes would go a long way in improving the efficiency and delivery standards for the Indian logistics industry as a whole.”

UPLIFT was conceptualized by ACAAI for over 15 years, through which ACAAI catalyzed government-industry dialogues on air cargo EDI. These efforts have fructified today through UPLIFT, in the more EDI-receptive environment inIndia. UPLIFT is different from its global counterparts, since it has been designed and developed in partnership with pilot forwarders, airlines, custodians and with inputs from other key entities in the supply chain such as the Indian Customs. It is built with world-class infrastructure; technology & expertise to help the supply chain participants overcome the pain areas of interaction with other partners in the supply chain.

Industry experts believe that 0.5% reduction in a country’s Logistics costs would lead 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.

Mr. Keki Patel- Cargo Manager – India & Nepal, Emirates Sky Cargo, an UPLIFT Airline Customer said, “India’s air logistics segment has matured significantly and it is high time that a Cargo Community System is in-place for all stakeholders. I am optimistic that UPLIFT will fulfill this role.”

Mr. Firdos Fanibanda, Managing Director – Modern Cargo Services said “ACAAI’s initiative to create a Communication platform inIndia has taken off well. Such technology breakthroughs assist organizations like ours to achieve excellence.”

Mr. Christoph Remund, CEO – DHL Lemuir Logistics Pvt. Ltd. said “This is a long overdue requirement and we welcome the work UPLIFT is doing for the industry by setting up such an operating platform which links all the stakeholders, for greater efficiency and improved service quality.”