NCA is first Asian carrier to partner with booking platform cargo.one

Nippon Cargo Airlines (NCA) and digital platform cargo.one have inked a collaboration agreement to spur volumes and scale down traditional booking procedures. The carrier states that this
partnership will strengthen NCA’s market position particularly in Europe.
Through the acquisition of its first Asian capacity provider, the booking platform has broadened its customer base and widened its global reach.

cargo.one, the Berlin-based startup established in 2017, continues to steadily grow its client portfolio. After Lufthansa Cargo, Finnair Cargo, AirBridgeCargo Airlines, El Al Cargo, and some
other carriers inking deals with the cargo booking platform, their management has now landed a new scoop by signing an agreement with Japanese carrier, NCA. The pact enables forwarding agents to
book main deck capacity 24/7 on NCA’s fleet of eight Boeing 747-8 freighter aircraft with instant confirmation and price transparency. Conversely, NCA broadens its customer base by offering
cargo.one’s 350+ registered forwarding agents access to the main decks of the Japanese airline’s big Boeing Jumbos as and when required.

“Announcement of Partnership” proudly presented by Satoshi Shimura of NCA and cargo.one’s Moritz Claussen - photo: cargo.one — “Announcement of Partnership” proudly presented by Satoshi Shimura of NCA and cargo.one’s Moritz Claussen – photo: cargo.one

Logical step
On the occasion of the signing ceremony, VP, General Manager and Head of Business Digitalization, Satoshi Shimura of NCA stated: “Joining cargo.one is a logical step for us in executing our
digital strategy. It will enhance our customers’ experience and help us to serve a breadth of freight forwarders, which allows us to build new ties and intensify our relationship especially with
SME agents.”
The manager went on to say: “cargo.one has proven to be a reliable, innovative and fast-moving partner to a growing number of airlines and we are happy to take the lead as the first Asian
carrier to join the platform.” Further to this, he pointed out that thanks to instantly confirmed bookings, transactions become transparent, significantly reducing waiting times, and
benefiting all parties involved in the end.
NCA Director Hiroyuki Homma, Head of Sales, Marketing and Business Strategy added that “we are very happy to enable our customers to book their shipments in a new and seamless manner.”

Convincing sales figures
As sales figures evidence, partnering with a booking platform obviously pays off for freight carriers. For example, Finnair Cargo achieved 27 percent of general and express cargo bookings in
Germany and 15 percent in their home market via the platform only seven weeks after joining forces with cargo.one in early 2019. A stunning result. Besides, the electronic distribution channel
allows Finnair, NCA, Lufthansa Cargo or Brussels Airlines to focus on executing their distribution strategy with limited infrastructure investments while concentrating on digitalization and
customer-centricity.
Coming back to the NCA deal, MD Moritz Clausen of cargo.one summarizes the outcome of the bilateral negotiations: “As cargo.one’s footprint continues to expand globally, NCA’s main deck
capacities will further add to cargo.one’s attractiveness for freight forwarders, allowing us to increase demand on the platform which will, in turn, lead to more capacity distribution overall
for those airlines partnering with cargo.one.”
It can be assumed that Nippon Cargo Airlines won’t be the last carrier joining forces with the booking platform.

Heiner Siegmund

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Source: Cargoforwarder