Riege and CCS Italy announce Cargo iQ platform for SME

“With Cargo iQ SME, we provide a turn-key solution for independent freight forwarders to benefit from shipment planning and control through shared Route Maps and operational visibility for various milestones along the shipment lifecycle,” said Chris Davies, Manager Product and Technology, at Cargo iQ.

Like Riege, CCS Italy has worked closely with Cargo iQ on this issue and so in early 2017 Gianni Mauri, Director Business Processes Air Cargo at CCS Italy, contacted Riege about possible cooperation. CCS Italy was searching for a reseller CDMP-F (Cargo iQ Data Management Platform for Forwarders) platform that could speed up the development of Innovative solutions tailored to the SME forwarders market.

In November 2017, CCS Italy and Riege agreed to cooperate. “It was our intention to offer Cargo iQ services to SMEs for affordable fees, but at the highest possible technological level. We contacted a number of established and well-known players in the industry, viewing them as potential partners, but rather soon we came to the conclusion that Riege and their CDMP platform would be the best choice – for us, and for our customers”, said Gianni Mauri who was leading the screening process at CCS Italy.

Riege Software was ready to make the necessary investment. Christian Riege explains the company’s attitude: “Whatever we do, we put focus on scalability – in all aspects – to serve customers from the smallest to the largest, and delivering the same high technological level to all. Our acclaimed TMS Scope is proof of this. The opportunity to expand this approach the Cargo iQ initiative focused on SMEs was the stimulus for the inevitable investments and additional work we undertook. We had to build, to align, to register and to setup at several sites in order to fulfill the numerous special requirements. Thanks to our experience and our skilled colleagues it was rather more routine than a challenge – with the awesome outcome facilitating SMEs access to Cargo iQ.”

The conditions are laid to provide Cargo iQ on a much broader basis. Martin Skopp, Product Manager Cargo iQ at Riege Software, is positive that the new product will appeal to customers and provide absolute satisfaction: “Riege has been certified for Cargo iQ – formerly Cargo 2000 – since 2009. Our expertise in reliable messaging is unquestionable, even the biggest players in the market make use of our capabilities. Both, forwarders and airlines. The cooperation with CCS Italy deploys our know-how to the benefit of SMEs who have played a central roll in Riege’s activities since the launch of Scope in 2008.”

SVP Software Development Christian Riege signed the agreement on behalf of Riege Software and CEO Emanuele Vurchio on behalf of CCS Italy. A pilot phase is ongoing and involved parties are getting consistently closer to market readiness. The Cargo iQ management team is on-board together with several carriers on the airline side. The future, once again, has moved another step closer.

About Cargo iQ

Cargo iQ is an IATA interest group with the mission of creating and implementing quality standards for the worldwide air cargo industry. Cargo iQ operates as a not-for-profit membership group supported by IATA and composed of over 80 major airlines, freight forwarders, ground-handling agents, trucking companies and IT solution providers globally. Cargo iQ members developed a system of shipment planning and performance monitoring for air cargo based on common business processes and milestones. As part of that system, the Cargo iQ Master Operating Plan (MOP), which has been endorsed by IATA as a recommended industry practice, describes the standard end-to-end process of transporting air cargo.

About CCS Italy

CCS Italy is a leading ICT provider for the air cargo industry, specializing in innovative, added-value IT solutions for freight forwarders, air cargo carriers and ground handling agents. Founded in the late 90s as a Service Center for IATA in Italy, the company has established its reputation due to innovative services, which meet the increasing need for air cargo players to adapt their IT systems to the reception and transmission of electronic messages, according to the standards defined by the international regulatory bodies.

Since 2004, CCS Italy has been operating as a Cargo Community System in Italy, supporting several existing initiatives to improve efficiency, security, and quality within the air cargo industry; these include programs for the digitization of transportation documents, such as IATA e-freight, e-AWB and e-CSD, as well as the quality management system Cargo iQ.