For many years now, Hong Kong has been a leader in international air cargo processing. To maintain its long-term competitiveness, there is a strong need for Hong Kong to invest in applied research on advanced air freight forwarding services. With the collaboration of HAFFA, the most representative air freight forwarding association in Hong Kong with over 300 company members, we propose to investigate the use of RFID and software agent technologies to enhance the competitiveness of Hong Kong's air freight forwarding industry.

In particular, we will develop a basic RFID-based air cargo processing system and employ software agents to facilitate the important task of flight planning. Extensive tests or pilot runs using real air cargo items will be conducted with our industrial partners.

The test results will provide valuable reference (e.g., case studies) for Hong Kong's air freight forwarding industry. Project deliverables/results will be disseminated through industrial seminars for the benefit of Hong Kong.

1. How can new technologies improve the air cargo check-in and check-out processes while maintaining integration with existing well-established operational procedures?
2. From the data management point of view, how can the front-end processing system be integrated with the backend enterprise system more seamlessly?
3. How can the important flight planning process be performed more effectively?

1. To develop a basic RFID-based air cargo processing system.
2. To investigate using software agents to facilitate flight planning.

1. Basic RFID-based air cargo processing system
2. Software agents for flight planning
3. Pilot run case studies
4. At least 2 seminars to disseminate the project results