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report

“We can do same-day clearance at
Frankfurt Airport now.”
“But the challenge that we have in
China is the trust pattern. Because for the
last five to 10 years, e-commerce flows
have been through Amsterdam and
Liege,” he added.
Odabas informed that the e-commerce
parcels handled at Frankfurt airport per
month have gone up from 10,000 in May
2023 to 2 million in May 2024.
To make the customs procedure smooth, licence for a few of these brokers for a few
he encouraged the Chinese e-commerce months. And the whole idea is just to get
shippers to integrate their APIs and provide more useful and accurate data,” he said.
data that is accurate and precise from a Another airport that is trying to get a
parcel level. greater share of e-commerce volume is the
“The customs clearance of e-commerce Glasgow Prestwick Airport in Scotland.
is done on a parcel level and not on a mass Prestwick Airport was selected by Royal
shipment level,” he said. Mail in June 2024 to be its international
One problem for e-commerce when it e-commerce hub in the United Kingdom
comes to physical control of shipments is (UK). Prestwick was selected due to the
that it needs much more time. The ship- numerous benefits it offers over alterna-
ment count is so much bigger compared US customs is tive airports throughout the UK including
to general cargo. not putting a stop to offering up to half of the cost of landing at
Talking about these challenges, Michael some UK hubs.
Mottl, head of customs & documentation e-commerce. They're Prestwick recently announced a £2.2 mil-
cargo services, Vienna Airport, says, “The lion investment in cargo equipment and
volume is the same, but you can have saying the volume is has taken delivery of two extra-wide high
20,000 singular shipments in one ULD or so fast. They have like 2 loaders with 20 and 35-tonne capacity,
under the same airway bill number identi- respectively, a heavy-duty pushback trac-
fied by different HS codes which takes million parcels coming tor capable of handling any aircraft type,
more time to get inspected.” 12 new dollies and a new Rapiscan X-ray
“In general cargo, one shipment will in every day. machine with 7 mm steel penetration.
have one company and airway bill with Peter Barry, vice president business
two or three tariff numbers. If you have an Alvin Tay development, Glasgow Prestwick Airport,
Atlas Air
e-commerce shipment, one shipment will said, “We are establishing a proper product
have 40,000 companies and 40,000 prod- He also mentioned the importance of that can handle e-commerce with a dedi-
ucts in one airway bill number. Customs getting the data right. “We are working with cated warehouse. We'll be using the distri-
have to be done for all 40,000 items. That's the airlines and shippers to get the data cor- bution centres, postcodes, last mile reach,
the problem.” rect and consistent. The customs make spot systems and technology of Royal Mail.”
Talking about regulatory issues, Mottl checks and compare them with the data. If He also spoke about the geographical
noted that some EU countries do not have the data is correct, then we get less control advantage of the airport to serve the e-
the focus of e-commerce shipments in future. If the data is not correct during commerce parcels to the UK and Ireland.
which makes it easier for airports in those the inspection, the inspection will go up “The vast majority of e-commerce comes
countries to process e-commerce cargo at because there's more risk,” he said. into London, Birmingham, Manchester,
this moment. Alvin Tay, SVP sales & marketing Asia East Midlands at the moment. However,
“This will change very fast. Because the Pacific, Atlas Air, also emphasised the the e-commerce distribution centres of
European Union has the same law. The importance of getting the data right as the big e-commerce companies are in
same rules should apply to other coun- he spoke about the transpacific air cargo the Midlands.”
tries,” he said. trade during a conference organised by As e-commerce is spreading far and
Talking about Vienna Airport and The STAT Trade Times in Shanghai at air wide with more airports and airlines grab-
Austria, he said, “Last year, we started cargo China 2024. bing their share of the pie, customs in the
with a very strict rule. And now we're “US customs is not putting a stop to e- Western world is pushing e-commerce
going downwards to make it easier and commerce. They're saying the volume is so to be more transparent, accurate and
faster for e-commerce as well. And other fast. They have like 2 million parcels com- precise about the parcels they are moving
countries, which started at the low level, ing in every day. How do we manage the through the air. And, as they put it, the
have to improve.” data? So they suspended the brokerage way forward is to digitalise. 
28 | JULY 2024 www.stattimes.com