#essdocs

Close to six years ago today, at the very start of 2010, a handful of our earliest customers completed the first ever series of live shipments using Cargo Docs electronic Bills of Lading. Today, we’re delighted to announce that over 3,000 customers worldwide have adopted our solutions – a major company milestone underscoring the industry’s rapid and continuing shift to paperless trade.

Year over year, our customer network has grown 70%; up from approximately 1,750 customers in early October 2014 to over 3,000 today, and set to exceed 3,750 by the end of the year.

Our Users Association, the DDG, recently held its first Americas-based Agri Workshop in Miami.

The workshop was attended by delegates from the major global Agri Houses, in addition to representatives from the North American Export Grain Association (NAEGA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Moderated by essDOCS Head of Agri, Cynthia Worley, and essDOCS VP Americas, Marisa Martin, the event featured an in-depth briefing on CargoDocs uptake in the Agri market, tracking progress and developments specific to relevant CargoDocs-enabled stakeholders such as Agri traders, exporters, banks, trade associations and government authorities.

Leading global chemicals company, Dow Chemical, has successfully completed its first live transaction using CargoDocs.

The US-headquartered multinational issued its first CargoDocs electronic Bill of Lading for a containerized chemicals shipment of Polyethylene Resin, transported from Rotterdam to Singapore in 40’ containers.

In addition to the electronic Bill of Lading, supporting documents were also included with the eB/L to create an electronic set of documents, or eSet. The eSet was securely and instantly transferred to the consignee leading to significant time and cost savings for all parties involved.

We have just released the latest version of CargoDocs DocPrep, featuring significant improvements in functionality, accessibility and ease of use.

CargoDocs DocPrep enables users to draft and/or collaboratively draft the full set of documents required to execute and transact global trade, and can be adopted in conjunction with CargoDocs eDoc Exchange (DocEx) or as a standalone solution. The solution allows users to create sets of paper documents, electronic documents or a combination of both.

Key improvements in the latest release, DocPrep 2.0, include:

Single data entry, which automatically populates all relevant supporting documents.

Addition of 12 new document templates including: Shipping/Documentary Instruction for petroleum, Shipping Instruction for bulk cargoes, Document Presentation form for Letters of Credit, Document Presentation form for non-Letters of Credit, Inspection Appointment for Petroleum, Inspection Appointment for bulk cargoes, Bill of Exchange, Certificate of Instruction and more

Addition of a Multi-Purpose Template enabling users to generate new custom document templates with their own branding/design and document labels.

Ability to share selected documents with local ship agents, freight forwarders and inspectors

Online filing, i.e. archiving and storage via cloud, of all electronic and paper documents for 12 years.

Collaborative drafting available on all supporting documents, not just electronic Bills of Lading

ESCAP, The regional development arm of the United Nations for Asia and the Pacific, has released its Regional Commissions Trade Facilitation and Paperless Trade Implementation Survey for 2015, providing a major assessment of over 30 trade facilitation measures in the Asia Pacific Region.

The survey covers the implementation of several key measures included in the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), in addition to “measures aimed at enabling paperless trade, or the conduct of trade using electronic rather than paper-based data and documentation.”

Using data pooled from 44 developed and developing economies within APAC, the report reveals crucial insights on paperless trade uptake, suggesting that “significant room remains for progress” in several Asia Pacific economies.

We’re pleased to announce that Zeeland Refinery N.V., the Netherlands-based joint venture of Total and Lukoil, is now live with CargoDocs electronic Barge Receipts (eBRs).

Zeeland Refinery executed its first trade using electronic Barge Receipts (or ‘Transport Documents’) on the essDOCS platform for a petrochemicals shipment earlier today.

As part of ongoing efforts to automate, accelerate and streamline documentation processes with its trade counterparts, Zeeland Refinery aims to go 100% paperless on all transport documents for exports carried by barges within Q3 2015 – the swiftest transition to eDocs for any CargoDocs-enabled refinery to date.

Our Users Association, the DDG, held its first China-based Metals & Minerals Workshop in Shanghai today.

The workshop took place in the city’s Pudong district and was attended by close to 100 delegates, comprising of attendees from the 3 major mining companies, 28 steel mills & trading companies and 12 banks.

The event provided an introduction to CargoDocs for Metals & Minerals, followed by a 45-minute Q&A session addressing various key points surrounding paperless trade – from eDocs acceptance by Chinese Customs and ports, to details on system security, how CargoDocs works in practice and how quickly key parties such as new vessels can be onboarded.

News of our customers’ use of CargoDocs for Trade Finance is spreading across prominent mainstream media outlets as more commodities traders and banks turn to paperless trade.

A recent Reuters article by Jonathan Saul titled “Commodities trade finance goes electronic after centuries of paper” features coverage of the first ever CargoDocs BPO+ transaction, as well as insights on digital trade finance from our very own Alexander Goulandris, essDOCS customers Cargill and Impala, solution partners SWIFT and more.