Schiphol extends dnata's cargo ground handling license

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol has re-awarded dnata with a ground handling license covering cargo and passenger operations for the next seven years following a competitive public tender. The ground handler has been providing passenger, baggage, ramp and cargo services to international carriers and specialist operators at Schiphol for more than a decade. Currently, dnata supports more than 20 passenger and cargo airlines at Schiphol, with a team of over 1,200 employees handling approximately 500,000 tonnes of cargo and around 16,000 flights each year. Thiemo van Spellen, managing director, dnata Netherlands, said: "We are proud to continue our ground handling operations at Amsterdam Schiphol. "This award reflects the trust placed in our people, our operational capabilities and our commitment to delivering safe, reliable and consistent services for airlines and passengers. "Schiphol is a critical hub in European aviation, and this is an important moment for the airport's ground handling community. We look forward to continuing our close collaboration with Schiphol, our airline customers, employees, unions and industry partners as the airport enters its next phase. "Together, we remain focused on supporting smooth operations, high service standards and a resilient operating environment." Having secured the seven-year license, dnata said it was well positioned build on its existing operations at Schiphol, deepen customer partnerships and pursue new growth opportunities. This includes dnata Cargo City Amsterdam, which has an annual capacity of 600,000 tonnes. The facility forms part of dnata's long-term plans at Schiphol, alongside continued investment in ground support equipment, environmental management and customer partnerships.

Akasa Air Cargo launches mobile app powered by SmartKargo

Indian carrier Akasa Air Cargo has launched a new mobile app using SmartKargo technology to enable efficient booking, shipment tracking and account management for cargo agents and shippers. Developed on the SmartKargo platform, the Akasa Air Cargo mobile app brings together key cargo functions including flight search, booking, real-time shipment tracking, shipment milestones, arrival information and account management within a single interface. The app is designed to be intuitive to support faster decision-making and execution without challenges. Available for download on Android platforms, the app is currently accessible to registered cargo agents and approved shippers operating across Akasa Air's growing domestic route network. Oliver Houri, chief revenue officer, SmartKargo, said: "Mobile-first distribution is no longer a competitive differentiator -- it is a commercial imperative. The launch of the Akasa Air Cargo mobile app reflects the kind of forward-thinking partnership we champion at SmartKargo. "By extending our platform's core capabilities to a native mobile experience, we are enabling Akasa Air to capture demand at the moment of intent, reduce booking friction, and deepen agent engagement in ways that were simply not possible before. We are proud to power this next chapter of Akasa Air's cargo growth story." Anand Srinivasan, co-founder and chief commercial officer, Akasa Air, added: "The future of air cargo will be shaped not only by network scale, but by how seamlessly customers can access and interact with that network. "At Akasa Air, we are building a cargo proposition that combines a growing network with technology-led solutions that simplify the movement of goods. The launch of the Akasa Air Cargo mobile app is a significant step in that journey, enabling customers to book, track and manage shipments with greater convenience and transparency. "In less than four years since commencing operations, Akasa Air has emerged as a key player in India's air cargo market, and this launch reinforces our commitment to building a modern, reliable and customer-centric cargo business that supports the country's evolving trade and logistics landscape." According to fleet tracking website Planespotters, Akasa Air has a fleet of 40 Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft. The airline currently connects with 28 domestic and seven international cities, including Doha, Qatar; Jeddah and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Abu Dhabi, UAE; Kuwait City; Phuket, Thailand; and Hanoi, Vietnam.

Visibility no longer enough as FourKites bets on AI execution

For more than a decade, much of the supply chain technology sector has competed on one angle: visibility. Knowing where freight is, when it will arrive, and where disruptions are emerging has become standard for shippers and logistics providers alike. But as time has progressed, visibility, which came to the fore in the chaos of Covid, is no longer enough; and one of the sector's biggest visibility providers agrees. FourKites, which built its reputation on real-time shipment tracking, is repositioning itself around what it describes as autonomous execution - using AI not simply to identify problems, but to book freight, process documentation, manage inventory and resolve exceptions with minimal human intervention. "Visibility tells you a problem exists. Execution resolves it," Stephen Dyke, director of strategic solutions at FourKites, told The Loadstar. "Every dashboard alert without an automated action is an unrecovered cost." The company's strategy became clearer with the launch earlier this year of Booking Connect and enhanced Inventory Twin capabilities. Rather than treating visibility as the end product, both applications use real-time supply chain data to trigger AI-driven decisions and operational workflows. Inventory shortages can automatically generate stock transfer recommendations, which then flow directly into Booking Connect, where AI selects a carrier, completes the booking, and initiates shipment tracking, all within the same platform. Booking Connect also ingests carrier contracts, compares negotiated rates, automates documentation, and manages booking exceptions, with users retaining approval over financial commitments where required. Mr Dyke argues this marks a fundamental shift in how supply chain software is judged. "This shift directly addresses the coordination tax - the trillions wasted when humans are forced to act as the manual API between fragmented systems." According to FourKites, customers are already seeing measurable gains. One consumer goods manufacturer recovered roughly half the time previously spent on track-and-trace while improving tracking quality by 20% within four weeks. A food producer eliminated two to three hours of manual coordination each day for every logistics manager while reducing OTIF and detention penalties, and finance teams have reported detention and demurrage savings of some 30%. The implications extend well beyond visibility platforms. Ocean booking, document collection, proof-of-delivery management, and routine exception handling have traditionally relied on large operational teams. FourKites believes those tasks increasingly become the responsibility of specialist AI agents, leaving people to manage only higher-value exceptions and commercial decisions. "The traditional control tower - historically a room of people manually tracking and reconciling shipments - is effectively obsolete," said Mr Dyke. "By automating the grunt work, execution runs 24/7, freeing up strategic teams to focus on driving service, cost, and risk outcomes." That thinking is beginning to emerge elsewhere across the industry. Speaking recently to The Loadstar, Rhenus Air & Ocean chief executive Jan Harnisch described AI less as a replacement for operators than as a way of embedding intelligence into complete workflows, allowing staff to focus on exceptions and customer relationships. Mr Harnisch argued that "the models will become increasingly interchangeable", meaning competitive advantage would increasingly come from orchestration, workflows, governance, and data rather than the AI model itself "The real value comes when AI is embedded into full workflows, supported by the right data, systems, governance, and business ownership," he said. "It cannot be only an IT topic. It must be linked to how we run the business." He predicted that, within five years, shipment operators would spend much of their time managing only those consignments that required human intervention after AI had handled routine execution. Start-ups are pursuing the same objective from a different direction. UK-based FreightSuite has developed an AI-native transport management system designed to automate quotation generation, document processing, shipment administration, and invoicing. The company says its platform already matches incoming emails and documents to the correct shipment without human intervention around 90.7% of the time, while customers have reported handling significantly more jobs per employee. "Our vision is to allow forwarders to move the most amount of cargo using the smallest number of people," co-founder Samuel Moore told The Loadstar. For freight forwarders, the shift could prove significant. If routine operational work increasingly becomes automated, competitive advantage may depend less on manually coordinating shipments and more on handling complex exceptions, customer relationships, and commercial decision-making. Visibility is unlikely to disappear. But as AI becomes capable of acting on supply chain data rather than simply presenting it, the next battleground for freight technology may no longer be who can see a disruption first, but who can resolve it fastest.