Hermes Logistics Technologies (HLT) will upgrade customer Groundforce Portugal to its latest cloud-based Hermes 5 cargo management system, Hermes Software as a Service.

Groundforce Portugal’s operations at Lisbon, Porto, and Funchal airports will all benefit from the migration to Hermes SaaS, with Faro station expected to follow in the near future.

The upgrade represents the expansion of a long-term collaboration between HLT and Groundforce Portugal, the Portuguese leader for ground handling services and an HLT customer of more than 15 years.

“The system upgrade pays close attention to improving Groundforce Portugal’s messaging, with the solution customised to meet specific local requirements to increase the speed, volume and accuracy of the data that is processed,” said Yuval Baruch, chief executive officer, HLT.

The migration of the cargo management system from a server to the cloud will bring increased security for Groundforce Portugal, which will also benefit from HLT’s full NG ecosystem, a collection of applications including NG Business Intelligence and Datalakes, Track and Trace, and NG Landside Management.

Hermes SaaS features a new import flight monitor, which provides a comprehensive overview of the status of each import flight, as well as one-button manual NOTOC (Notification to Captain, a written document to inform the pilot-in-command that dangerous goods are being carried as cargo), which can be prepared before a shipment has been loaded.

“Upgrading to Hermes SaaS will help push forward our digitalisation strategy, and we will gain additional functionality, reliability, and the promise of scalability for our full operations network,” said Paulo Colla Carvalheiro, Groundforce Portugal planning, processes and innovation director.

Groundforce Portugal serves major airlines flying to Portugal, namely TAP, SATA, Air France, KLM, Royal Air Maroc, Azul, Delta, United Airlines and Beijing Capital Airlines. It processed more than 165,000 tonnes in 2022, 18% more than in 2019.

Images: Groundforce Portugal