essDOCS has successfully completed the first operational use of essDOCS electronic bill of lading solution covering a container movement. The negotiable electronic ocean or master bill of lading was issued by NYK Line to a global essDOCS customer, for a shipment from Singapore to China on the M/V Vancouver Bridge.

 

The NYK Line eB/L was issued to Elite International Logistics Singapore (the forwarder working on behalf of the customer) on February 7, who in turn added the necessary supporting eDocs and presented the set of electronic documents (eSet) to the American trade finance bank.

 

After completing its review of the eSet, the American bank presented the eSet to the issuing bank, China CITIC Bank. Following that transaction, China CITIC Bank accepted the eSet under the terms of the eUCP letter of credit and in turn sent the original eDocs to Wuhan XinLianChuang Plastics. Wuhan XinLianChuang then surrendered the eB/L to NYK and received their cargo at Shanghai port.

 

The eB/L was created from XML data pushed by NYK Line into the essDOCS eB/L solution using a standard message, resulting in an eB/L comprised purely of data based on NYK Line’s standard B/L template. This approach reuses Lines’ current IT capabilities and transitions the majority of interfacing work to essDOCS.

 

This live transaction followed several weeks of testing in Q4 2013, involving all the trial participants. essDOCS has been undertaking similar tests with a number of other container lines who have completed successful testing last year and are planning to transition to operational use in coffee and metals trades later this quarter. essDOCS is in advanced talks with a number of other lines, and expects the number of users testing its liner eB/L solution to increase steadily throughout the year.

 

Lincoln Leung, global & AOC BPM of NYK Line, said: "The use of our existing XML files and data structure meant we could populate the electronic NYK bill of lading draft quickly, and send it with one click to Elite to verify. Once Elite confirmed the eB/L draft, our export documentation team in Singapore signed and issued the eB/L upon vessel departure. Overall we were not asked to change our process much, which is a good thing."

 

Yong Liu, general manager of international banking department of China CITIC Bank said: "It's a pleasure to issue and honour the first letter of credit requiring eDocs including eB/L presented through essDOCS in China. China CITIC Bank always focusses on innovation, and will devote to promote the use of electronic documents in trade finance."