Bimco and ICC promoting e-BL
The Baltic and International Maritime Council (Bimco) has partnered with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and other stakeholders to develop a global electronic bill of lading model for vessels operating in tramp traffics.
Bimco says that this initiative will be essential to accelerate the digitisation of the maritime transport sector. The organisation plans to play a key role both in the development of this model and in its acceptance and adoption by regulators, banks, carriers and insurers around the world.
According to Grant Hunter, head of contracts and clauses at Bimco and in charge of this project, the organisation strives for an "harmonised approach to facilitating trade by developing an Electronic Bill of Landing (eBL) model. "
This Bimco eBL will be fully aligned with the United Nations Centre for Electronic Business and Trade Facilitation (UN / Cefact) multimodal reference data model.
The Digital Shipping Container Association (Dcsa), which already published its standards for the maritime transport sector in December 2020, will also be involved in the project. (cd)