F-E shippers get a taste of technology from hell

AS LOCAL shippers push for greater reliance on electronic solutions to speed up shipments, particularly at the country's airports, there is a downside as recent airport chaos in Malaysia and Hong Kong demonstrated.
Malaysia's R20-billion new airport left freight and passengers stranded last week when its state-of-the-art computer system crashed on opening day.
Hong Kong's new Chek Lap Kok airport which opened last week was faced with a similar cyber glitch. As a long queue of trucks waited for their cargo at the chaotic cargo collection terminal, Hong Kong's main cargo operator was trucking cargo back to the old airport until the computer problems had been solved.