FIATA & essDOCS Joint Press Release - Zurich, 29 March 2018: The International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations (FIATA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with essDOCS to provide a framework for further cooperation in digitising Bills of Lading.

FIATA introduces an electronic FIATA Bill of Lading (eFBL) offering safe, secure, reliable, efficient, and faster paperless trade to its members. As part of the project plan, FIATA’s Advisory Body Information Technology will work on the digitisation of FIATA documents, starting with the eFBL and in a second phase the electronic House Bill of Lading (eHBL issued by NVOCCs) plus other FIATA documents. With essDOCS’ assistance, its CargoDocs electronic exchange will help prevent fraudulent copying and errors that might be associated with paper documents. This is part of the long-term strategy identified by FIATA with the involvement of several FIATA entities and experts.

Five FIATA Association Members from diverse regions will participate in the pilot project to test the new CargoDocs-customized FIATA system. The pilots will ensure a seamless transition to a paperless environment. They will be conducted across pre-specified trade lanes and will be guided by FIATA Association Members. 

Specifically, the pilots will be carried out in 3 phases. Initially, FIATA members will simply replace their current printing of FBLs with an online, collaborative tool housed within essDOCS’ secure hosted servers. Members will be able to either draft their FBL online, and share it with their shipper before it is printed and signed, or allow their shipper to draft their own FBL before being printed and signed. The FBLs will be printed onto blank FBL paper which will be distributed by FIATA and signed by FIATA NVOCCs. 

Phase 2 of the project will add various security features to help identify fraudulent FBLs and will be extended to include members’ own House Bills of Lading. In phase 3, FIATA members will be able to adopt fully electronic FIATA Bills of Lading (eFBL) or House Bills of Lading (eHBL).

In October 2017 at the FIATA World Congress, an MoU was signed with GS1 as part of the step-by-step approach for identifying and migrating FIATA documents into a digital platform, using the GS1 global unique identification system. This project will enable the global FIATA community to offer secure high-quality intermodal solutions for the benefit of all supply chain stakeholders. 

Contacts:

FIATA
Hans Guenther Kersten 
Director General
E: kersten@fiata.com

essDOCS
Nicholas Demetriou
Chief Marketing Officer
E: nicholas.demetriou@essdocs.com 

About FIATA
The International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations (FIATA) was founded in Vienna, Austria on 31 May 1926. It is a non-governmental organisation that today represents an industry covering approximately 40,000 forwarding and logistics firms, employing around 10 million people in some 160 countries. FIATA has consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and the UN Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) as well as many other UN related bodies such as the World Bank. It is recognised as representing the freight forwarding industry by many other governmental organisations, governmental authorities, private international organisations in the field of transport and logistics, such as the European Commission (through CLECAT), the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the International Union of Railways (UIC), the International Road Transport Union (IRU), the World Customs Organization (WCO), and the World Trade Organization (WTO). 
Learn more at www.fiata.com. 
 

About essDOCS
essDOCS enables paperless trade. Its solutions digitize and automate paper-heavy processes, including: online creation / approvals of all export docs (CargoDocs DocPrep+), data extraction and structure from paper docs and back-office automated checks (CargoDocs Auto-Document Processing), end-to-end eDocs management for key trade docs such as electronic Bills of Lading and Warehouse Warrants (CargoDocs DocEx) and application/issuance of electronic Certificates of Origin (TradeCert & eCertify). Over 36,000 companies, ranging from 31% of the Fortune Global 100 to innovative SMEs, use essDOCS solutions across 169 countries.