Facilitating Cost savings for traders and agents by Digitizing Issuance of Certificate of Origin in Lesotho

Lesotho is a high-altitude land-locked country within South Africa with exports majorly to Eastern and Southern African countries. Textiles, diamonds, and a few other manufacturing items are produced in Lesotho. Also, Lesotho is the largest manufacturer of garments to the USA from sub-Saharan Africa.

Challenges involved in manual Certificate of Origin issuance

Regulatory agencies in Lesotho found manual documentation challenging as mostly Certificate of Origin is prepared after the cargo is exported. Intra-regional trade in Africa has been slowed down by delays and other involved costs in manual processing of Certificate of Origin from start to end, this is contributing to negative effect on trade.

The procedure was cumbersome as it required traders to go physically to the offices of the authorities responsible for the issuance of CO in order to lodge the relevant application and obtain response on the issuance of the certificate.

In order to address these challenges, logistics stakeholders required a smart automated system that can digitize the issuance of Certificate of Origin. The system had to interface with the country’s integrated customs management system for seamless data flow.

Automating issuance of Certificate of Origin

Kale Logistics Solutions offered its flagship electronic certificate of origin platform to fast-track issuance of the document digitally. The entire process of application, attachment of supporting documents, verification and issuance is digitized through this platform so that the entire process is performed through one single window.

The exporters can make online payments using the facility of secured payment gateway and pre-deposit account. The e-CO platform from Kale facilitates user friendly registration for traders and agents with a secured login using unique credentials as well as a secured payment gateway with no scope for phishing attacks.

Business Benefits

Cost savings with reduced paperwork

Reduced errors due to automation

Faster & efficient operations

Transparency in overall operations

Secured login and payment gateway