· IATA’s Recommendation on Cargo-XML Standards
· XML is the future of air cargo messaging
· IATA has stopped maintaining Cargo-IMP standard messages by end of 2014
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has decided to build upon XML as the strategic direction for the air cargo industry electronic messaging as it can:
Ø Reduce the message transaction costs by transmitting messages over the internet directly between parties without the use of third party service providers where feasible;
Ø Reduce implementation and maintenance costs due to its flexibility; and
Ø Increasing adoption of electronic messages by stakeholders including Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs).
In March 2010, the IATA Cargo Services Conference (CSC) and Cargo Agency Conference (CAC) agreed that IATA would stop maintaining Cargo-IMP standard messages by end of 2014, and maintain only Cargo-XML standard messages. This will not prevent anybody from continuing to use Cargo-IMP but no new Cargo-IMP versions would be released. This endeavour had been previously supported by IATA/FIATA Consultative Council (IFCC).
IATA recommended that industry stakeholders who want to start exchanging EDI messages, especially SMEs, to adopt Cargo-XML standards and not IATA Cargo-IMP as agreed with their partners. Industry stakeholders that are using IATA Cargo-IMP messages are encouraged to adopt IATA Cargo-XML standards as soon as possible or develop a plan to migrate to IATA Cargo-XML. More details are available on the IATA website: http://www.iata.org/cargo-xml
· Cargo-XML Autocheck portal is now available online
We are pleased to update Members that Cargo-XML Autocheck portal is now available online at https://cargo-xml-autocheck.iata.org/. First time user need to complete the registration step (details available on the same link) and a login and password be sent by IATA.
Cargo-XML Autocheck is a powerful online tool, that allows users to validate/test their Cargo-XML messages against the IATA standards without involving their partner. The validation is limited to syntax check only and the following five messages can be validated:
1. XML Waybill – XFWB 3.00
2. XML House Waybill – XFZB 3.00
3. XML Booking – XFFR 2.00
4. XML Flight Manifest – XFFM 2.00
5. XML Status – XFSU 3.00
· White Paper on the Cargo-XML Adoption Published
IATA recently published a white paper aiming at facilitating industry adoption of the Cargo-XML standards by providing different implementation strategies, migration approaches, case study and the necessary guidelines that can be applied by the stakeholders while embracing Cargo-XML standards. This paper also discusses the role of different stakeholders in adopting the standards and contains information about different tools and resources provided by IATA for Cargo-XML adoption.
Interested Members please download the white paper from the IATA website: http://www.iata.org/whatwedo/cargo/e/Documents/cargo-xml-standards-white-paper.pdf and it will be included in the Cargo-XML Manual and Toolkit 3rd Edition through a web update.