THE founder of Airblox, Edip Pektas, has said that the company, which was launched in the air cargo market in 2022 with the aim of creating an electronic exchange for block space agreements, could also become a futures market.
Speaking to London's Air Cargo News at the Air Cargo Forum event in Miami, Mr Pektas, whose career in air cargo started with an investment in handler MIC Cargo, describes airblox as a financial technology (Fintech) company and online exchange where standardized Electronic Block Space Agreements (eBSA) are issued by suppliers of capacity to be traded in a blockchain infrastructure by users of capacity.
The platform has more than 2000 lanes listed, its website claims, with predictive analytics and pricing forecast on major cargo lanes.
As well as giving smaller and medium players direct access to real time capacity and improved market visibility, Mr Pektas says Airblox will also improve access to finance by providing a link between the financial markets and the logistics industry.
He explains: 'A block space is essentially a forward agreement, something that today it is not fungible.
'But if you have a digital market place that shows someone paid something for an eBSA, or is willing to pay something for an eBSA, then that becomes an agreement that can be underwritten.
'If you have a series of these, or one in the future, then a lender can come to the market and provide a credit line to a freight forwarder or an airline.'
This is becoming increasingly important as payment cycles continue to extend.
Looking to the future, Pektas says that if Airblox can successfully create this digital capacity exchange, it could also become a futures market.
'It is a step by step process,' he explains. 'First we need to create a digital market place of all these contracts, then we need to be able to create enough volume so that they can be traded amongst freight forwarders and so that somebody who is outside our industry can come in and buy exposure to air cargo.'
The advantage of this development to existing market players is that they would be able to hedge risk in a similar way to how an airline may hedge its exposure to jet fuel price volatility.
SeaNews Turkey
Speaking to London's Air Cargo News at the Air Cargo Forum event in Miami, Mr Pektas, whose career in air cargo started with an investment in handler MIC Cargo, describes airblox as a financial technology (Fintech) company and online exchange where standardized Electronic Block Space Agreements (eBSA) are issued by suppliers of capacity to be traded in a blockchain infrastructure by users of capacity.
The platform has more than 2000 lanes listed, its website claims, with predictive analytics and pricing forecast on major cargo lanes.
As well as giving smaller and medium players direct access to real time capacity and improved market visibility, Mr Pektas says Airblox will also improve access to finance by providing a link between the financial markets and the logistics industry.
He explains: 'A block space is essentially a forward agreement, something that today it is not fungible.
'But if you have a digital market place that shows someone paid something for an eBSA, or is willing to pay something for an eBSA, then that becomes an agreement that can be underwritten.
'If you have a series of these, or one in the future, then a lender can come to the market and provide a credit line to a freight forwarder or an airline.'
This is becoming increasingly important as payment cycles continue to extend.
Looking to the future, Pektas says that if Airblox can successfully create this digital capacity exchange, it could also become a futures market.
'It is a step by step process,' he explains. 'First we need to create a digital market place of all these contracts, then we need to be able to create enough volume so that they can be traded amongst freight forwarders and so that somebody who is outside our industry can come in and buy exposure to air cargo.'
The advantage of this development to existing market players is that they would be able to hedge risk in a similar way to how an airline may hedge its exposure to jet fuel price volatility.
SeaNews Turkey
