CHAMP Cargosystems celebrates 25 years of electronic data communication under the TRAXON brand

TRAXON, a brand of the CHAMP Cargosystems portfolio, is celebrating 25 years of serving the air cargo industry with applications that facilitate data communication, compliance, and quality management.

CHAMP Cargosystems is proud to highlight the pioneering achievements of TRAXON on the occasion of celebrating 25 years of service to the air cargo community. TRAXON’s success story began in 1990 when Air France, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, and Lufthansa, launched the first global communication system. The aim was to facilitate the electronic exchange of information between airlines and air cargo agents. This led to the founding of “Global Logistics System Europe Company for Cargo Information Services GmbH” operating under the trademark TRAXON Europe in 1991. During the same year, Cathay Pacific Airways and Japan Airlines established a sister company for Asia Pacific under the trademark TRAXON Asia. In 1995, Korean Airlines joined TRAXON Asia as a shareholder.

1990 was the year the first Internet page went live. These were early days of digitization with TRAXON Europe and its sister company in Asia leading the way to the digitization of global air cargo supply chains. Whilst the initial TRAXON product portfolio offered many “nice to have” applications, these have become “must haves” today.

Jean-Yves Cap, Director – French Market, Air France-KLM Cargo, recapitulates: “In the early 1990s, when Air France Cargo went in search of a vendor to provide customers with real-time shipment status updates, there was no off-the-shelf solution available. Air France and various other carriers that had the same needs decided to pool resources to ensure worldwide coverage, with Air France and Lufthansa steering TRAXON Europe, while Cathay and JAL steered TRAXON Asia. Having started out as a status update platform TRAXON went on to provide customers with other EDI services, including electronic AWBs, connectivity to Customs IT systems, and quality monitoring services. TRAXON has been a key factor in the strategic transition of air cargo into the digital era, supporting data interchange.”

“A reliable IT infrastructure for messaging is the backbone of operations in every cargo airline”, adds Jochen Goettelmann, Vice President-CIO, Lufthansa Cargo AG. “Lufthansa Cargo has been relying on the partnership with CHAMP / TRAXON, one of the leading Cargo Community System (CCS) providers, for 25 years. A strategic advantage of this cooperation is the integrated use of TRAXON CDMP for Cargo iQ reporting. Lufthansa Cargo is pleased to have recently extended its contract with CHAMP Cargosystems for a further three years.”

CHAMP Cargosystems drives digitization in air cargo industry
In 2011, CHAMP Cargosystems acquired TRAXON Europe and thus expanded its service offering to the air cargo industry. Today CHAMP markets services under the TRAXON brand that focus on data facilitation, compliance, and quality management. Key is the “industry bus”, TRAXON cargoHUB. It is one of the best-engineered open platforms for worldwide electronic data transmission, conversion and message distribution.

With TRAXON Global Customs (TGC) CHAMP offers the air cargo industry a one-stop-shop solution for advanced customs information required by a growing number of regulatory authorities worldwide. TGC is crucial for just-in-time deliveries, cost optimization, and regulatory compliance. TRAXON CDMP is the leading Cargo iQ solution facilitating end-to-end performance monitoring and quality management in the air cargo and forwarder community.

“CHAMP plays an active role in creating solutions that enable the air cargo industry to meet new challenges. We are a strategic partner of IATA and support the e-AWB initiative. But e-AWB and CargoXML are only first steps into connectivity. The aim is to facilitate the information flow of the entire air cargo supply chain from shipper through to consignee,” says Markus Flacke, Managing Director, CHAMP Cargosystems Germany GmbH.

“I expect a rapid growth of digitization efforts over the next five years because of the enormous benefits that automation can offer to the industry. The fast advance of e-commerce is another driver for companies to improve the sophistication of their IT systems and processes. E-commerce is a big opportunity for everyone in this industry, from carrier to forwarder. It will open the door to new business models. But it requires connectivity between multiple IT systems. If companies want to be successful in the future, they have to drive digitization forward and make IT core to all their activities,” adds Markus Flacke.

“In addition, data analysis will become a hot topic, not only for monitoring performance, but also for driving the business forward and making companies more competitive. The air cargo industry collects a wealth of data. An intelligent analysis will help to better understand the different players in the supply chain and help identify areas of improvements in the logistics processes.  However, for this to happen, companies must champion IT in their whole thinking. They need to rethink processes and start asking, ‘how do I make my whole workflow more digital?’ CHAMP is well prepared for this challenge with its products and services under the TRAXON, Cargospot and Logitude brands.”

Translate »