The 34th Executive Council Meeting of the Federation of Asia-Pacifi c Aircargo Association (FAPAA), which will be hosted by the Hong Kong Association of Freight Forwarding and Logistics (HAFFA) and be held at the Hotel Nikko Hong Kong from August 31- September 1, will offer a varied programme for delegates and observersalike.
Like in previous years, the programme, apart from the offi cial agenda, will include many presentation and discussions about topics that are of interest for the participants. On the fi rst day of the event, guest presenter C.S. Kong, director, IATA Asia Pacifi c Region will update delegates on the progress of IATA’s E-Freight initiative, which currently involves ongoing pilot projects in fi ve countries. Kong will also brief the members on the latest developments of the Message Improvement (MIP) Programme together with the current status of the new cargo agency agreements in Australia, India and Canada, plus a report on how the ECAP Programme in Europe is progressing. Finally, the IATA executive present an update on the CASS developments and issues in the Asia-Pacifi c region.
Following a proposal from IATA, members will be invited to discuss the merits of a FAPAA / IATA Forum, which IATA has suggested to organise prior to future FAPAA meetings. FAPAA chairman Peter McNamara and IATA’s C.S. Kong will lead this discussion. The fi rst presentation at this year’s ECM – Global Air Cargo Security Industry Task Force (GACSITF) – will be given by David Fielder, regional director security management of Panalpina and secretary Asia for TAPA.
Fielder will present a briefi ng paper detailing the proposed work of this group and the potential involvement of FAPAA. Fielder’s presentation is timely as IATA and FIATA have formed a joint task force to meet and discuss existing legislation and practices, which exists in the air cargo security environment worldwide. Where gaps exist, GACSITF aims to develop common solutions, while it will also develop positions and statements based on specifi c air cargo security issues to be communicated and promoted by its members to stateauthorities and regulators.
GACSITF will aim to improve the effi ciency and effectiveness of the various efforts in regard to air cargo security and to reduce duplication and waste. FIATA and IATA will have co-leadership of the group, whilst IATA will provide the secretariat.
In the IT/E.commerce session, which is chaired by ACAAI (India), two presentations have been scheduled. In the fi rst one, Pat Roche, consultant to Redberry Software Limited will present an overview of Redberrytrack, a web based track-and-trace system claimed to be the biggest in the industry and used in over 120 countries. It is most commonly used in China, India and throughout Asia. It gives access to all modes of transport and has added services such as airport locators, currency conversion, customs regulations, by country, etc.
The second presentation "Freight Forwarding – The Future Reality" will be given by Mike Coney, vice president business development Asia Pacifi c for Australia-based CargoWise edi. Coney will give an outline of strategies that freight forwarders can use to reduce bottlenecks, increase processing speed and maintain a high quality of service and therefore reduce customer churn in the forwarding and logistics industry.
