Facilitating over 70% cost savings for Forwarders with automated e-Bill of Lading generation for a large Forwarders Association in South Asia

Facilitating over 70% cost savings for Forwarders with automated e-Bill of Lading generation for a large Forwarders Association in South Asia

 Our client is an association of Freight Forwarders and Customs Brokers in a South Asian nation and serves as the voice of nearly 7000 stakeholders. The association makes its own contribution to the formulation of policy and administrative measures and the simplification of various export-import procedures.

Need to facilitate compliance adherence

Digital Container Shipping Association (DCSA) and FIATA pioneered digitising the overall electronic Bill of Lading initiative. Under the standardisation process set by DCSA, nine Ocean Carriers have committed to making the entire process digital by 2030, enabling global trade growth of US$30-40 billion and saving US$6.5 billion for stakeholders. Similarly, the International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations (FIATA) introduced the utility of an electronic Bill of Lading for the South African Association of Freight Forwarders (SAAFF) in February 2023.

Documentation for a single shipment can require up to 120 copies of paper exchanged with 30-odd stakeholders. Bill of Lading (BL) accounts for between 10 and 30 per cent of total trade documentation costs. The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) projects that paperless trade could create US$267 billion of additional exports across G7 countries, compared to base forecasts, by 2026. Both initiatives make way for the elimination of paper-based documentation to produce a Bill of Lading and ease the process seamlessly.

e-BL in one-click made possible

Kale’s Electronic Bill of Lading (e-BL) initiative allowed freight forwarders to easily issue a secured e-BL through a seamless one-click process, thereby removing double data entry. Members of the association could generate the bill in three distinct ways: API integration with internal systems to fetch the data into the platform, excel uploads or using an innovative machine learning interface to pull data from legacy PDF or scanned documents into the recommended regulatory format with more than 95% accuracy.

The e-BL initiative is game-changing for the overall ecosystem as it not only helped them scale large-scale automation and bring transparency but also offered end-to-end communication between stakeholders and eliminated security risks in the logistics ecosystem.

It is enriched with a smart QR code system that allows users to establish the document’s integrity, security and accountability. Each BL document is registered on an immutable ledger and is verified at any time by all stakeholders interacting with the document.

Measurable impact

70% cost savings

98% data accuracy

100% transparency in operations

Streamlined stakeholder communication

Testimonial

The objective of our association is to organise united action to promote the interests of each member, and deploying the e-BL initiative will ease business and logistics costs for our members. This initiative also aligns with the government’s vision of digitalisation in logistics and paperless trade.

– Chairman

Read more on Electronic Bill of Lading global mandate