At the end of April, Cargo Network Services of Garden City, N.Y. introduced electronic invoice presentment and payment (EIPP). The company really had no choice. CNS, a clearinghouse owned collectively by the

major airlines for billing freight customers, had just been informed by the vendor that handled its presentment of paper invoices that its fees were going up 400%. Given current pressures from escalating fuel costs, the added costs of security and unimpressive cargo volume thanks to a sluggish economy, Cargo Network wasn't in a position to pass such a large price increase through to its owners. "It's hard to tell airlines that their cost is going up 400%, and they're getting nothing in return at a time when so many are losing money," observes Howard Chaloner, CNS director of operations and financial services.

Two months after moving to Citibank's e-billing, the cargo carrier had 95% of its 1,200 cargo agents and freight forwarders receiving invoices electronically and 40% to 50% of them paying CNS electronically, up from less than 1% in March. "That's phenomenal adoption in less than two months," Chaloner notes. His goal is to have every invoice and payment occur electronically by the end of the year, but he'll be satisfied with 85% to 90% electronic payments and 100% electronic invoices, he concedes. The result: Cargo Network is realizing savings from the quicker availability of funds through daily instead of twice weekly payments and on postage–not to mention avoiding the whopper price hike.