BRU integrates blockchain into digital BRUcloud service

Yesterday, Brussels Airport (BRU) launched its first blockchain-enabled application, which will work in conjunction with its cloud-based data management platform, BRUcloud, that was rolled out in January of this year.

The addition of blockchain technology to the app will centralize client communication, replacing individual “system-to-system connections with all different partners,” said Sara Van Gelder, cargo business development manager at the airport.

BRUcloud provides a platform for forwarders to request ad hoc delivery slots and reserve a recurring time slot – which Air Cargo World wrote about in depth in May, following a panel discussion at Cargo Facts Asia.

In an update of the app, forwarders will now be able to manage communications with handlers digitally, replacing the old paper-based process.

The airport named DHL Global Forwarding and ground handler WFS as partners and fellow advocates of BRU’s foray into blockchain. David Bellon, DHL-GF’s airfreight director, commented that the air cargo industry needs to increase its efforts in digitizing its processes, “to create transparency and real-time visibility.”

The overdue digitalization of airfreight processes has been talked about at length in recent years. As far as the reception of the app is concerned, it won the airport’s “IT solution of the year” award at the Air Cargo China conference last month.