Teleport’s new offering allows instant bid-and-book for air cargo

AirAsia’s logistics arm Teleport announces Freightchain, the world’s first digital air cargo network run on blockchain. A shipper or freight forwarder can now instantly book and confirm any of AirAsia’s 247 aircraft to carry cargo through Freightchain, without the need to go through traditional time-consuming sales or email channels. Freightchain will assist shippers and their freight forwarders to discover all available cargo network connections owned by airlines for their supply chain needs. Especially during this unprecedented period, air cargo is vital in the global fight against Covid-19. A software to transparently bid and confirm urgent air cargo capacity in real-time is vital to keep global supply chains for life-saving medical supplies and equipment moving. Freightchain, chief technology officer, Vishal Batra said, “We deliberately launched Freightchain during this period of uncertainty within global supply chains, caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Agile software platforms like Freightchain help to connect uneven supply and demand amidst a rapidly evolving environment. The first pilot booking on Freightchain was successfully conducted to ship pharmaceutical cargo from Bengaluru, India to Ulan Bator, Mongolia. An instant itinerary via Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Seoul, South Korea was confirmed in real-time with flights from three different carriers through a smart contract on blockchain. Due to the unavailability of direct flights from Bengaluru to Ulan Bator, the shipper had to manually enquire about the availability of connecting flights with multiple airlines and agents over phone calls and emails, a very tedious and time-consuming process.