Demo SkyBridge Cargo: air-freight operating day

Demo SkyBridge Cargo operates freighter and belly-hold capacity from Dubai to Frankfurt, Nairobi, and Mumbai. It sells air freight in USD and AED, pays handling agents in local currencies, and moves electronics, pharmaceuticals, and temperature-sensitive cargo. OSERP links shipper, consignee, booking, airway bill, warehouse handling, customs, flight leg, invoice, payment, and claim evidence.

1. Set up lanes, customers, and service products

Create company SBC, stations DXB, FRA, NBO, and BOM, and warehouses for export, import, and cool-chain cargo. Customer masters identify shipper, consignee, broker, credit limit, currency, tax, and communication contact. Lane masters store origin, destination, transit, cut-off, flight schedule, aircraft capacity, and rate basis.

Field	Demo value	Impact
Booking	SBC-DXB-004281	Shipment and API key
Airway bill	176-98765431	Legal transport document
Service	Priority airport-to-airport	Rate, SLA, and revenue
Chargeable weight	1,240 kg	Billing basis
Commodity	Temperature-sensitive medicine	Handling and acceptance controls
ULD	PMC-00421	Build-up and custody trace
Flight	SB218 / 18 Sep 2026	Capacity and milestone plan
Currency	USD	Invoice and settlement
DG flag	No	Dangerous-goods route validation
Incoterm	CIP Frankfurt	Responsibility and customs evidence

The tariff table records lane, service, weight break, fuel surcharge, security fee, handling, tax, effective dates, and customer contract. A new rate version is required when a shipment is already booked.

2. Create a booking and airway bill

The booking header records shipper, consignee, origin, destination, service, requested flight, cut-off, currency, payment term, broker, and status. Detail lines include pieces, dimensions, gross weight, commodity, temperature range, declared value, handling code, and rate class.

For 80 cartons at 15.5 kg, gross weight is 1,240 kg. Volumetric weight is calculated from dimensions and the higher of gross or volumetric becomes chargeable weight. The airway bill records shipper instruction, security status, customs reference, insurance, and document checklist. Duplicate airway bill or missing consignee blocks acceptance.

3. Acceptance, screening, and dangerous goods

At export acceptance, record actual pieces, weight, dimensions, packaging, screening result, acceptance agent, photo, and discrepancy. A damaged carton becomes an exception and claim, not a hidden quantity edit. For dangerous goods, require UN number, class, packing instruction, declaration, shipper approval, and permitted aircraft route. A DG booking without approval cannot be built into a ULD.

Temperature-sensitive medicine records data logger ID, required range, packaging, gel packs, and handover temperature. The warehouse milestone captures arrival, put-away, build-up, handover, and loading times.

4. Build a ULD and fly the shipment

Create ULD PMC-00421 linked to booking and flight. Detail includes airway bills, pieces, weight, position, build-up agent, seal, security, and balance check. The ULD status moves planned, building, built, delivered-to-carrier, loaded, departed, arrived, and broken down.

At departure, the shipment milestone records flight, actual departure, manifest, customs release, and carrier confirmation. Revenue is not recognised twice when a shipment is rebooked. A missed connection changes flight leg and exception reason while preserving original plan.

5. Invoice freight and accessorials

The invoice header stores customer, airway bill, lane, currency, tax date, due date, contract, and service period. Lines show 1,240 kg × USD 3.20 = USD 3,968 freight, fuel surcharge USD 476.16, security USD 120, and handling USD 160. The total before tax is USD 4,724.16.

Posting debits receivable and credits freight revenue, surcharge revenue, handling revenue, and tax. Agent charges are accrued by shipment and cleared when invoices arrive. The invoice remains linked to milestones and signed documents.

6. Customs, imports, and delivery

The customs document pack records declaration, HS code, country of origin, commercial invoice, packing list, broker, duty, release number, and release date. Import warehouse receipt records airway bill, pieces, condition, temperature, storage bin, and consignee handover.

Storage beyond the free period creates a daily charge using actual days and tariff version. Delivery order records consignee, driver, vehicle, proof of delivery, and handover time. A missing proof of delivery leaves the shipment open and visible on the exception dashboard.

7. Interline and handling-agent settlement

An interline agreement stores partner, route, prorate percentage, currency, minimum guarantee, settlement cycle, and dispute period. If a partner carries 40% of the route, the payable or revenue share is calculated from the agreed basis. Handling-agent invoices match station, airway bill, pieces, weight, and accepted service events.

Pay a Frankfurt agent invoice in EUR against a USD accrual. Record invoice rate, payment rate, bank reference, and realised FX. Differences remain separate from freight margin. A partner statement dispute references exact airway bills and rate clauses.

8. Claims, refunds, and close

A consignee reports two damaged cartons. Create a claim with airway bill, pieces, condition, photos, survey, declared value, liability limit, owner, and approval. A settlement posts to claims expense or carrier recoverable according to policy; a recovered amount links to the partner claim.

Month end reconciles bookings to airway bills, accepted pieces to warehouse, ULD manifests to flight milestones, invoices to revenue, agent accruals, interline statements, customs charges, claims, bank, tax, and FX. Locking prevents backdated departure or invoice changes without an adjustment reason.

KPI	Baseline	After OSERP discipline	Improvement
Booking-to-airway-bill errors	3.6%	0.5%	86% lower
Acceptance-to-load trace	45 minutes	6 minutes	87% faster
Invoice first-pass accuracy	89%	98.5%	+9.5 points
Agent accrual variance	USD 180k/qtr	USD 32k	82% lower
Claim file retrieval	2 hours	10 minutes	92% faster
Temperature exception closure	5 days	1 day	80% faster

Practice challenge

Create a booking, calculate chargeable weight, issue an airway bill, accept temperature-sensitive cargo, build a ULD, record a missed connection, invoice freight and storage, settle an interline agent in EUR, deliver the shipment, and process a damage claim. Explain every field, milestone, permission, journal, currency, customs document, and exception drill-down.

Related: Demo 3PL logistics day, Demo Trading & imports, Multi-currency settlement, Advanced GL Mapping, and API library.