Safeline Freight and Fortuna DMCC became the early adopters of TradeLens’ eBL in the UAE. Collectively, the two companies move more than 7,500 containers annually in and out of the UAE.
The carrier-neutral, blockchain-enabled digital supply chain platform jointly developed by Maersk and IBM, TradeLens issued the first electronic Bill of Lading (eBL) in the UAE, enabling businesses to digitally issue, transfer, and submit original bills of lading using blockchain technology.
Accelerated transformation
Safeline Freight and Fortuna DMCC became the early adopters of TradeLens’ eBL in the UAE. Collectively, the two companies move more than 7,500 containers annually in and out of the UAE.
The platform aims to accelerate the global supply chain industry’s digital transformation by fully digitalising manual, paper-based and time-consuming administrative processes.
Moreover, it allows an original bill of lading to be digitally issued directly from a carrier and moved electronically through its journey with all the stakeholders, to alleviate the stress of sending physical papers from one stakeholder to the other through a courier process and eliminate the costly possibility of documents getting lost or forged, as well as enhance the efficiency of associated processes.
Simplified processes
“I was amazed at how easy and fast I can control all my bill of ladings through the TradeLens eBL. Since this is a cloud-based solution, all my consignments and documents are available to my team and me on any device anywhere in the world,” Safeline Freight’s CEO, Ahmed Beyi said, noting that with the eBL being accepted by major ocean carriers, ports, customs and a growing list of stakeholders, “life has become easier for freight forwarders and our customers.”
Anticipated success
On his part, the regional head of TradeLens, Maersk West & Central Asia, Varun Kulshreshtha highlighted that TradeLens eBL marks the latest addition to the platform’s product portfolio in the UAE, which also includes visibility and document collaboration tools making the platform a compelling proposition for any company to digitalise its supply chain.
“The eBL has proven to be very popular with customers and in a few short years should become the default way of managing shipments in our region,” Kulshreshtha added.
A cohesive eco-system
The technology developed by TradeLens offers all shippers regardless of size or specialisation a solution to digitalise their operations, particularly with the elimination of physical hand-off of documentation, and the modernisation of supply chain infrastructure becoming critical during the pandemic.
TradeLens’ ecosystem comprises more than 1000 organisations, including major ocean carriers representing over two-thirds of the global market, and is integrated with leading trade finance banks operating in multiple countries with a shared vision to help modernise the trade finance industry.
