Love & Hate – 03Nov24

 

 

Why do forwarders ¨love and hate¨ CASS – Cargo Accounts Settlement System?

 

We can give some examples of this duality.

 

On the one hand, forwarders are happy with a renewed billing and settlement system that can provide multiple advantages:

 

-            Individual airline billings with consolidated settlement

-            Defined operational agenda: billing cycles, settlement dates, correction periods, all published in the operational                       calendar and made available on the forwarder´s CASS schedule

-            Disputes via e-corrections before settlement date

-            Reports for head offices and branches, and aggregated data

-            Electronic submission of data, uploading and downloading.

 

On the other hand, forwarders do perceive CASS as having strict rules, lack of flexibility in the way regulations and requirements are applied and communicated, in certain cases disrupting their air cargo business, and eventually excluding forwarders from the business:

 

-            High number of wrong-billed freight and other charges

-            Disputes requests are delayed or ignored

-            Payment delays or non-payment resulting in corrective actions

-            Adjustments of financial securities based on strong Risk Management

-            Suspension from CASS: airlines not accepting bookings and shipments until requirements are met by the forwarder               and reactivated in the system

 

Freight Forwarder Associations do argue that there is possible trust issues embedded in this settlement system. Airlines do strongly disagree. The fact is that over the years focusing too much on this argument has just heated discussions but not resolved any issues.

 

Other billing and settlement solutions are gaining momentum in the air cargo industry. Although no real competitors existed to CASS in recent years, today there are some interesting alternatives, e.g. PayCargo.

 

We strongly believe that a continued dialogue, collaboration and engagement of all parties is key to enhancing any billing and settlement system/solution for the benefit of the whole air cargo industry.

 

At RR Consulting we are best suited to help you. You can trust us.