Cathay Cargo has enhanced its integrated mail platform with Cathay Mail, a refined digital solution that re-envisages the mail-shipment process, generating greater transparency for post offices and providing the track-and-trace visibility their customers expect.

With Cathay Mail, Cathay Cargo is able to provide a superior customer experience that better caters to the requirements of post offices for shipment visibility, reliability and speed.

Director Cargo Tom Owen said: “Cathay Mail highlights how we have adapted technology and digitalisation to offer real benefits to our customers. By fully integrating mail-handling functions with our cargo operations and expertise, our innovative new mail solution provides a sophisticated suite of tools and facilities to support our postal partners.”

Cathay Cargo’s refreshed “mail as cargo” solution integrates mail-handling data with air cargo systems using the PAWB – the postal air waybill. This use of electronic data interchange (EDI) technology removes much of the previous shipment paperwork and gives both origin and destination post offices, and designated operators, more visibility of shipments down to mail bag (or “receptacle”) level, allowing them to offer package-level track-and-trace visibility to e-commerce shippers.

The information also enables Cathay Cargo to manage capacity against actual volumes of mail on flights, so it can make allowances for surges in ad hoc demand or make unused space available for other cargo.

There is an additional benefit for mail heading to Europe where, by making the information available in advance, mail shipments will be compliant with the European Union’s new ICS2 customs requirements, which are being introduced this year.

Thanks to the digital data available from the PAWB, it is now easier not only to reconcile shipments for billing, but also to measure performance. Cathay Cargo will be adding KPIs to its mail performance monitoring suite, which is accessible on the EzyPost platform. Indices such as on-time delivery and visibility performance will be accessible and updated from live data.

Cathay Cargo will aim to outperform the 95% industry “visibility performance” standard and will set its own stretch targets to ensure it exceeds contractual standards. The EzyPost platform will also produce monthly reports that will be available to post office customers. This accessible and more accurate data will simplify the measurement of contractual performance.

“This new investment in our mail-handling capability increases the attractiveness of Hong Kong as a global mail hub, giving post offices the confidence to move mail more seamlessly to, from and through Hong Kong,” added Owen.