Shipping dangerous goods is one thing but doing it completely digital is another thing. Is it? Either way, you must prepare a Shipper’s Declaration for dangerous goods (DGD). With a driving demand for digitalization in the logistics industry, the emphasis on the electronic dangerous goods shipper’s declaration (eDGD) increases.
eDGD
An eDGD or digital transport and logistics goes beyond e-mailing a PDF file to others. It’s about sharing the information or data only with those that need to have insight in it. But also, when and where it is made available for them. Of course, this process needs to be fully adopted, accepted, and implemented among all parties involved in order to succeed. Therefore, IATA published an implementation guide for electronic DGDs.
Guidelines to implement eDGD
The IATA guide for eDGD implementation is made available for the public. It contains information on pre-set requirements and process-flow. This to provide a standard that works for all in the air cargo community. From data sharing platforms, to shippers, and from freight forwarders and ground handling agents to airlines as well as other stakeholders.
These guidelines are result of a successful proof of concept; an initiative that brought the need for going paperless into practice. One of the participants is Lufthansa Cargo. Recently, they announced to fly only with electronic Air Waybills (eAWB) as from the end of March this year. Also, it is the first airline that set paperless declarations as their standard. On top of that, eDGDs need be provided through one of the acknowledged data platforms. This is in line with the IATA implementation guide, as well as the ICAO TI/IATA regulations for dangerous goods.
Comply with the IATA requirements
Create and share your eDGDs, or shipment data, with Lufthansa Cargo and others via our E-Freight module. DGOffice.net is officially recognized by LH Cargo as eDGD compliant collaboration platform. Following the guide’s principles and requirements, specific functionalities for different roles (e.g., shipper, ground handler or freight forwarder) are made available. Our E-Freight module provides various options to pass on validated shipping information to the next party. One of the options is to directly send the data into LH Cargo’s system. In DGOffice.net, you can follow the status and if it is accepted. In addition, it is possible to create an export file of the data. Choose the format you want, such as the IATA C-XML or our own multimodal DGXML.
Send your first eDGD
To get started, we recommend going through IATA’s implementation guide for eDGDs. The guide provides a clear overview and explanations in regards of the eDGD concept. It clarifies the process and each party’s responsibility in it, as well as the value it adds to your business operations. In addition, it helps you answer the question on how or where to get started with eDGDs.
Furthermore, check Lufthansa Cargo’s quick overview in regards of eDGD. It shows the benefits for you and visualizes the workflow.
Are you ready?
We are! Start a free trial to check out our E-Freight functionalities, and more.
If you’re a DGOffice.net user already and prepare shipments, the basics of E-Freight are available for you by default. Shippers get instant options to validate their shipments and share it with forwarders or other parties directly from their account. Forwarders, ground handlers or airlines receive this data in their DGOffice.net account or in their own system. They can accept or decline the shipment, add any missing data (such as station of loading/unloading or AWB number), and forward it to the next party in line. All while the shipper follows the status and the original shipping data remains intact.
Please contact us in case of any questions!
