LUFTHANSA CARGO LAUNCHES ONLINE BOOKING IN GERMANY

LUFTHANSA CARGO LAUNCHES ONLINE BOOKING IN GERMANY

   Lufthansa Cargo said Wednesday it has its eBooking system in Germany which allows forwarders to book any of the cargo carrier's services via the Internet.

   The company said it will follow the German launch with a worldwide roll-out. The system, developed in partnership with perotsystems and its Indian joint venture company HPS, is scheduled to be in place in all the cargo carrier's major markets by 2001 and globally by 2002.

   Lufthansa Cargo has offered online booking for its td.SameDay time-definite service since the spring of 1999.

   The new system offers forwarders “distinct efficiency gains on routine cargo bookings,” said Michael Korn, Germany manager for Schenker, which booked the first shipment on the Internet with Lufthansa Cargo in Frankfurt Wednesday.

   “We will successively connect all booking channels with the new booking engine in order to offer our customers maximum availability — be it through direct computer-to-computer communications, the newly designed Lufthansa Cargo home page or the logistics trading platforms on the Internet.”