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This post is about the rise of electronic bill of lading and how it will benefit industry
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How the Electronic Bill of Lading can accelerate the efficiency of the industry The Bill of Lading aka BoL or B/L is the most important shipping document that serves as a receipt of freight forwarding services. It works as a contract and a document of title between the carrier and the shipping company or freight forwarder. Over the last couple of years, the digitization of the freight forwarding industry has prompted shippers to transform the traditional paper based B/L into the Electronic Bill of liding or eB/L. Check out today’s post where we have discussed the advent of the E Bill of Lading and how it is all set to increase the operational efficiency of the freight forwarding industry.
The drawbacks of traditional Bill of Lading for the freight forwarding industry The B/L is the most crucial document of international trade that has been existent for several centuries.However, the B/L is a paper document that carriers and forwarders exchange via couriers. Additionally, it necessitates manual checking which makes this document subject to human errors. More importantly, a physical B/L is also prone to getting forged, misplaces, or stolen. This could greatly complicate the on-time delivery of cargo resulting in substantial loses for all the stakeholders of the shipment. The use of express courier service for exchanging B/L is also expensive both in terms of time and money. All these drawbacks bring down the efficiency of the shipping process and increase the operational expenses.
The rise of Electronic Bill of Lading In a bid to do away with the several drawbacks of paper B/L, the container shipping industry as well as the air freight industry are seeking solutions that can enhance document processing while saving cost and time.The advent of new technologies such as blockchain has provided a new impetus to the E B/L offering new innovative solutions. The E B/L will eventually replace the paper document of B/L along with courier services by a digital document that can be transferred via a cloud-based system. The electronic bill of lading doesn’t simply imply a digital version of a paper bill of lading. It is like an e-document that is created, approved and exchanged digitally via blockchain or cloud computing.
Benefits of the E B/L for the freight forwarding industry 1. 2. 3. 4. Elimination of document transportation costs Enhanced security of document Ensures business continuity Accuracy of data
Challenges for the Electronic Bill of Lading ● Lack of a digital mindset Even though the adoption of technology is revolutionizing the shipping process in so many ways, the freight forwarding industry is still somewhat averse to the digital changes. Before implementing the E B/L, the transportation and logistics industry needs to understand the benefits of digitization, adopt it, and get the required training to use it.
● Legal complications The Bill of Lading is the single most important document for international trade. It acts as a receipt of cargo, a document title of the cargo and a contract of carriage. This is why E B/Ls would require each country to amend, approve and adopt the new regulations that enable the Electronic Bill of Lading.
