LAST-MILE DELIVERY, AI GOES THE DISTANCE

Artificial Intelligence is revolutionising air cargo and last-mile delivery by optimising logistics, reducing costs, and enhancing efficiency. Despite challenges, Al-driven solutions promise transformative growth for the cargo industry, writes R CHANDRAKANTH

- R CHANDRAKANTH

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is ushering in a new era across several sectors, and one of them is aviation, including the slow-to-adopt-digitalisation air cargo industry. Though the 2020 pandemic accelerated digital adoption in the air cargo industry, which had to move vaccines and other medical necessities across the globe in double quick time and with fewer people working on the ground at that time, AI adoption in the sector is still in its nascent stages.

The laggard digital adoption is due to the many stakeholders in the entire air cargo supply chain – freight forwarders, logistics providers, ground-handling agents, regulators, airports, airlines, etc. In such a scenario, Al integration becomes that much more complex, and we get to presently see Al in silos, nevertheless a beginning. Some of the airports and airlines in India have introduced AI, starting with passenger experiences and then moving on to cargo and other services. Air India was the first airline in the world to deploy a Generative Al virtual agent ‘Maharaja AI’, though basically enhancing passenger experience.

The connection between the passenger and the airline is pretty simple, unlike the cargo segment, due to the different stakeholders at play with varying challenges. For instance, at airports, one of the biggest challenges is the dwell-time or the turnaround time, whereas for a surface transport provider, it could be an issue of tracking and tracing. The longer a car- go (particularly time-sensitive ones) continues to be on the pallet or on the truck, the logistic cost not only goes up, but also impacts quality, safety and security, critical elements in end-to-end delivery.

Reducing Dwell Time