The Hindu Business Line : Cargo portal Ezycargo eyes Indian market

EZYCARGO, an Internet-based air cargo portal that was launched last week by the Singapore-based Cargo Community Network Pte Ltd, hopes to tap the booming Indian market.

Mr Gerard Lim, General Manager, India, Cargo Community Network, said that the company decided to come into India as the market here is growing rapidly. He said that freight forwarders here were not yet automated and were still manually making out the airway bill. There is a need to automate the process, he said.

But, trade sources point out that ground reality in India is quite different. The airlines operating into India do not accept advance sale of space or a neutral airway bill, two important features of Ezycargo, mainly because there is no legal framework for this, as India is governed by the Warsaw Convention.

Ezycargo is positioned as a carrier-neutral service to facilitate the air cargo shipment process. In Singapore, the company has integrated the system with the customs, ground handling and other services. In India, the company is working towards integration with the customs, Mr Lim said.

The portal was jointly developed and operated by Cargo Community Network and Global Logistics System (HK) Co Ltd of Hong Kong. Ezycargo is supported by four Asia-Pacific airfreight carriers- Cathay Pacific Cargo, Japan Airline Cargo, Qantas Freight and Singapore Airlines Cargo.

He said that the company plans to expand to Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi by November. The portal is used in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Japan. Recently, the company introduced the portal in five cities in China and will be soon be available in the sixth city.

The portal requires a Pentium 4 processor and broadband services for high-speed connectivity. Mr Lim said that this system would be useful for freight forwarders as it would be easier to comply with the stringent norms set by the US Customs.