Miami International Airport has signed an agreement with Kalé Logistics Systems to deploy a shared data platform for air cargo stakeholders, bringing airlines, freight forwarders, trucking companies, customs brokers, warehouse operators and regulators onto a single system to reduce paper-based transactions and manual scheduling that contribute to truck congestion.
What Happened
The project is described as the world's first AI-based air cargo community system. Atlanta-based Kalé will implement it in three phases, beginning in January with community workshops to introduce the system and gather stakeholder requirements, a process expected to take about nine months. Airport officials expect the build-out and user onboarding to take roughly three years in total.
The platform covers truck pickup and delivery scheduling at airport terminals, electronic delivery orders, electronic payments and customs document filing. It will sit on the front end with application programming interfaces connecting to each party's existing systems, and use traffic pattern prediction and wait-time data to recommend optimal appointment slots at the next handling facility. Truckers can also query a generative chatbot in English or Spanish to check whether a shipment is ready for pickup.
Miami International Airport handled a record 3.4 million tons of freight in 2025, up 9.4% year on year, surpassing Chicago and Los Angeles as the busiest non-express cargo airport in the continental United States. The airport supports about 190 cargo-only flights per day and more than 1,600 daily truck trips.
Background
Traditionally, trucks arrive at airports with limited information about loads and availability, causing queues at peak times while drivers sort out paperwork and payments on site. Different ground handlers use separate systems, making it inefficient for trucks to coordinate pickups and deliveries across multiple facilities. Airport officials say that with little room for physical expansion, better information flow effectively squeezes more capacity out of existing infrastructure.
However, the Airforwarders Association has raised concerns about who pays for the system, warning that a per-airway-bill user fee charged to forwarders would quickly become expensive. The association argues that cargo infrastructure modernization is inherently a governmental responsibility and that forwarders should be at the table in setting rules. The dispute could affect the pace of rollout and the eventual fee model.
Impact on Shippers
For Chinese exports transiting or entering the US through Miami, the platform could, if implemented as planned, make pickup scheduling and document flow at air cargo terminals smoother, with shorter truck waiting times potentially improving pickup times, especially during peak-season congestion. Electronic document transmission in customs processes could also help reduce delays caused by paper-based exchanges.
On cost, no clear fee structure has been announced. If a per-airway-bill user fee is ultimately charged to forwarders, related costs could be passed through to shippers, with the extent depending on the final pricing mechanism. In the near term, shippers should not count on improved Miami transit times in their planning and should continue to arrange pickup and customs clearance at current operational rhythms.
Recommendations
Shippers using Miami as an air cargo gateway should confirm pickup appointment rules and document requirements with their forwarders in advance, and monitor whether terminals adjust booking processes after the platform goes live. For time-sensitive cargo, build buffer time for terminal handling into bookings and clarify in contracts who bears any extra costs arising from the system transition. Customs documents for US clearance should still be prepared in full compliance with current rules, subject to the latest official announcements.