iFreightOR by IBS Software

iFreightOR GHA Portal for geolocating incoming trucks and identifying arriving ecommerce shipments
iFreightOR Forwarder Portal for forwarders to dispatch ecommerce shipments
Illustrative portal to show 1R ecommerce shipment data being shared to Customs
iFreightOR Architecture covering key AI/ML components

Inspiration

As consumers, we've come to love the thrill of online shopping, especially the rush of getting our orders delivered quickly and unboxing them.

Cross-border e-commerce is booming, but the technology and processes to handle these shipments is still catching up, especially given the huge volumes and data requirements that this business entails.

For example, the EU customs body requires e-commerce shipment records to be at the HAWB level for easier processing, while U.S. customs mandates specific shipper and consignee information be available for imports.

Current communication methods (CIMP, CXML) lack the flexibility to manage these new needs, forcing logistics providers to make do with inefficient workarounds. Also, from a logistics perspective, the average cross-border ecommerce shipment takes 140+ hours to travel from shipper to consignee - which in today's terms is just too long a time. Carriers / GHAs / forwarders that can bring down delivery times will truly be able to differentiate their offerings vis a vis. what's there in the rest of the industry.

Enter ONE Record—a scalable data architecture that seamlessly handles these requirements, with clear data objects for shipper, consignee, and HAWB-level shipment record reporting, making data sharing and management at scale between air cargo stakeholders (GHA, forwarder, airline, customs), simple and efficient. This ensures that shipments don't idle at terminals for want of sufficient data / clearances.

Challenge addressed -

Turkish Airlines – e-Commerce Challenge Create an innovative solution that leverages IATA's ONE Record standard to revolutionize e-commerce with a focus on the ground handling point of view; with applications spanning from customs, border management and cargo screening.

The Solution

iFreightOR by IBS Software is a unified platform designed to streamline operations and data reporting across the cross-border e-commerce supply chain.

Powered by ONE Record, iFreightOR allows forwarders to share house AWB-level shipment data compliant with EU ICS2 customs standards and publish truck GPS data to ground handlers (GHAs) once shipments are dispatched.

Using geo-fences and truck GPS data, GHAs can track truck arrivals in real-time on iFreightOR, prioritizing high-priority e-commerce shipments for faster unloading and acceptance. At acceptance, GHAs can quickly capture shipment details like dimensions, weight, and shipper/consignee information, which are PATCHed to the forwarder's ONE Record server for approval.

Inconsistent shipment data is also a huge pain point for processing ecommerce shipments from a customs point of view, with HSN code - Goods description mismatches, incorrect / incomplete shipper consignee information, etc. leading to holds being placed by customs on ecommerce shipments. To solve for this, iFreightOR runs an "AI Check" that leverages ChatGPT to check for correctness of HAWB data which classifies ecommerce HAWB shipments as -

Green - No issue with a high chance of customs clearing the shipment
Amber - Vague data, but iFreightOR via ChatGPT can propose the correct value - PATCH request with the proposed correct value can be triggered to the forwarder for approval
Red - Vague / incorrect / invalid data, high chance of customs rejecting the shipment - iFreightOR triggers the relevant MIP error code to the forwarder to take corrective action

Once shipments are accepted and manifested onto the planned flight, this data is notified by iFreightOR to import-side customs via ONE Record, ensuring smooth customs clearance. iFreightOR’s granular data capture of shipper/consignee information (email, phone number, account name, account number, known consignor, billing type, IP address, proof of identity, etc.) + Gen AI validation of shipment data, combined with ONE Record also helps achieve greater compliance with US Customs’ ACAS reporting standards.

How we built it

The iFreightOR platform consists of 2 key components -

Replanning Engine: Automatically updates shipment plans based on real-time data. This utilizes real-time flight updates, weather conditions, and planned times from CIQ (Customs, Immigration, and Quarantine) milestones. This fetches relevant shipment information through a combination of the ONE Record Notification API + Get API and shipment events.
Anomaly Detection System: Identifies defects or inconsistencies in shipment data. This analyzes historical data and trained data sets against expected values to detect anomalies such as ambiguous shipment descriptions based on HSN (Harmonized System) codes. This utilizes Generative AI to propose corrective actions for detected data anomalies.

Challenges we ran into

Fine-tuning the ChatGPT model to check for mismatches in HSN/Commodity code and Goods Description data as part of the customs clearance checks on the GHA side. With a valid data set, this should be easier to accomplish (and will be a definite consideration if we take this to production).

What's next for iFreightOR by IBS Software

We see the iFreightOR platform (today designed for GHAs) as a tool that can be extended to other stakeholders such as shippers as well. This will ensure that the onus of furnishing the right data doesn't solely fall on the forwarder but the shipper as well.
We also see significant potential in leveraging ChatGPT to collate shipment information from multiple disparate documents (including those in the e-pouch) to formulate a much richer shipment record in ONE Record.