Hactl’s services handle physical cargo, documentation, ramp management, crew transportation services, and intermodal transport services. The Oracle-based COSAC system connects Hactl with airlines and freight operators, as well as government authorities, such as Airport Authority Hong Kong, the Customs and Excise Department, Civil Aviation Department, and Census and Statistics Department. Customers can use COSAC to lodge cargo documents and track cargo.

The COSAC system was initially launched in 1976 at Hong Kong’s former international airport, Kai Tak, and has been upgraded several times. After Hactl moved to SuperTerminal 1 at Chek Lap Kok airport in 1998, staff used the legacy COSAC2 system to manage cargo data from a 3,500-compartment, multilevel, container storage system, along with 10,000 compartments accommodating loose cargo.

“Cargo tonnage almost doubled after the move to Chek Lap Kok, combined with an increase in demand for data from customs, airlines, and the International Air Transport Association’s initiatives such as Cargo2000, e-Freight, and e-AWB,” said Cindy Ng, general manager—information services, Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Ltd. “To improve efficiency and cope with the increase in the volume and complexity of data, we needed to develop a next-generation cargo management system, and provide a robust and agile platform for our customized cargo management services.”

Hactl is one of two cargo operators based at Chek Lap Kok, with a third operator due to start business in 2013. The increased competition meant Hactl needed to improve the overall efficiency and flexibility of the COSAC system to retain existing customers and attract new business. The company also wanted to offer end-users a more powerful and flexible interface.

In addition, Hactl needed to ensure the transition to the new system and any subsequent upgrades were completed quickly and smoothly. It wanted to avoid excess downtime or other problems that might affect its ability—or the ability of its customers—to provide transport and cargo handling services 24 hours a day.

“COSAC has been the backbone of Hactl’s operations for 36 years, and we continue to invest significantly in ensuring the system is fully up to date and totally robust,” said Ng. “When you handle critical operations round the clock for more than 100 airlines and 1,000 freight forwarders, failure is not an option.”

Redesigning COSAC-Plus to run on Oracle has enabled Hactl to lower document processing time by up to 60%, despite supporting 1,000 concurrent users, conducting more than 1.7 million transactions per day.

“We can now process shipping manifests, which contain thousands of house waybills—which are contracts between shippers and agents for transporting cargo—up to 60% faster than the previous system,” said Ng. “By delivering a faster response to end-users, we have significantly improved our services and customer satisfaction.”

By lowering transaction processing times, Hactl has also enabled its customers, such as airlines and freight forwarders, to more quickly identify and correct errors in the shipping manifests.

“In the air cargo industry, every second counts, so the faster we process shipping documents and information through COSAC-Plus, the sooner our customers can identify and rectify any problems in the paperwork,” said Ng. “This allows cargo to be cleared sooner, without affecting shipment-release times.”

The electronic cargo manifest for each aircraft can consist of thousands of items, making a rapid data entry and search system essential. Using the upgraded, Oracle-based COSAC-Plus, Hactl staff, airline users, freight forwarders, and government departments can now customize the system’s user interface to better suit their requirements. This has improved the speed at which users can search for information by more than 30%.

“By moving to Oracle products, we have enabled COSAC-Plus to optimize functions and customize data fields,” said Ng. “The system can also handle photographs of cargo, which increases the visibility of different items and is extremely popular with customers.”

Oracle Database, Enterprise Edition 11g and Oracle WebLogic Suite have also enabled COSAC-Plus to offer users online help and a choice of English and simplified or traditional Chinese.

“Offering simplified or traditional Chinese in the cargo management solution helps our staff use the system more easily, as well as making it easier for us to work with more businesses in mainland China,” said Ng. “This will help us expand our customer base, which will be especially important once the new cargo operator enters the market in 2013.”

In addition, 95% of the 3,500 people trained to use COSAC-Plus rated the new system as “good” or “very good.”

“Thanks to the user interface customization options, COSAC-Plus makes it easier for our end-users to enter and search for cargo information quickly and accurately,” said Ng. “This is improving the efficiency of the system, boosting customer satisfaction, and will help us remain competitive.”

By using Oracle Database, Enterprise Edition 11g and Oracle WebLogic Suite to upgrade its Cargo Management System to COSAC-Plus, Hactl has reduced its scheduled system downtime during new implementations and upgrades.

“We can now implement changes and upgrades to the Web-based system without taking it completely offline, ensuring we can provide cargo management services 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” said Ng.

Hactl has implemented Oracle Business Intelligence Suite, Enterprise Edition 11g, to provide an insight into cargo shipment trends and customer behavior. It allows Hactl to better understand customer needs, and to develop strategies for handling cargo at peak times and during the anticipated changes brought about by increased competition.

“Our Oracle-based COSAC-Plus system allows us to more easily understand the trends of cargo movements across different continents and different airlines, which is important in an industry that is constantly changing according to the global economy,” said Ng.