Tag / FIATA

by Mike Poverello

FIATA – Launches Paperless FBL Solution

Picture: Glenn Carsten-Pieters

FIATA is proud to bring its members a pragmatic solution to move from paper documents to paperless FIATA BLs, which can be issued directly through their everyday tools. The FIATA solution improves the level of security of the FIATA BL in comparison to the paper version, making use of blockchain technology to authenticate the documents and provide an audit trail. Conscious of the various challenges which remain to be overcome to achieve worldwide adoption and legal recognition of electronic exchange of data, the paperless FBL is an answer to the needs of the industry for improved access and exchange of trade documents. The document issuer can decide in which format (s)he wishes to share the original unaltered document with its stakeholders: in paper form or as a PDF. Based on its eFBL data standard, FIATA has developed an API service, available free of charge to all software providers, allowing them to connect with FIATA to create secured paperless FBLs.

As of today, seven software providers have already signed an agreement with the Federation to implement the solution: AKANEA, Cargowise, CargoX, edoxOnline (Global Share), InfoSysTech-IST, Nabu and Usyncro. We are very pleased to announce that the paperless FBLs can start to be issued as of today with edoxOnline, InfoSysTech-IST and Usyncro who have already finalised the implementation.

FIATA encourages all TMS’s, eBL providers and other software providers to join them and implement their solution to offer this new service to their customers. All technical specifications are available on FIATA’s GitHub repository.

 The solution, developed by FIATA partner Komgo, will help to reduce fraud risks, as each document is recorded on an immutable ledger and will be verifiable at any time by all stakeholders interacting with the document. Stakeholders will be able to either scan the QR code at the top right of the document, or directly upload the PDF on FIATA’s verification page to access the document audit trail which will

  • certify the validity of the document,
  • the identity of its issuer, and
  • the integrity of its content.

Souleïma Baddi, CEO of Komgo, when asked to comment on the paperless FBL launch said: ‘Documents are the bedrock of international trade, but they don’t operate like we need them to and they’re susceptible to fraud and forgery, that happens quite often.

Trakk is the digital ecosystem of trust for trade documents. I am thrilled to see FIATA joining all companies, financial institutions, warehouses and others who are using Trakk to protect their documents against fraud.’

‘WiseTech Global congratulates FIATA on the launch of their electronic bill of lading.’ The company continued: ‘This initiative will support transparency and security across the supply chain and will help companies to accelerate their digitalisation efforts. It was a pleasure to work with FIATA on this initiative. CargoWise customers will be able to request a connection to FIATA’s eFBL from June 2022.’ 

‘FIATA is very excited to embark on this important milestone of its digital journey which paved the way for great opportunities for the future of freight forwarders’, said FIATA Director General Stéphane Graber.

For more information, visit FIATA’s dedicated webpage. 

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by Mike Poverello

International Shipping Federations take on Counterfeit Goods Trade

bascap

Leaders from global shipping firms, freight forwarders, brand owners whose products are counterfeited and industry organizations representing both industries signed a joint Declaration of Intent to Prevent the Maritime Transport of Counterfeit Goods in Brussels last week.

The event marked the first time the global shipping industry and brand owners have made a public commitment to work together to stop the transport of counterfeit goods on shipping vessels.

Initial signatories include the leading global shipping firms and freight forwarders and ten major multinational brand manufacturers, along with the International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations (FIATA), and the International Chamber of Commerce’s (ICC) Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy (BASCAP) and Commercial Crime Service (CCS).

More transporters, brand owners and their industry associations are expected to join the voluntary initiative as awareness grows.

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, about 90 percent of all international trade is moved around the world in more than 500 million containers on 89,000 maritime vessels. While this represents approximately 90 percent of all international trade, UNODC says that less than two percent of these containers are inspected to verify their contents. This results in enormous opportunities for criminal networks to abuse this critical supply chain channel to transport huge volumes of counterfeit products affecting virtually every product sector.

According to a recent OECD/EUIPO report, $461 billion in counterfeit goods moved through international trade in 2013, with almost 10 percent being shipped on maritime vessels.

Maersk Line and CMA CGM Group, two of the largest global transport companies with approximately half of all global shipping, and Kuehne and Nagel and Expeditors, two of the leading freight forwarding and logistics companies with total revenues of more than $27 billion, were the first in their industries to sign the Declaration.

The non-binding Declaration acknowledges the “destructive impact” of counterfeits on international trade. It calls on the maritime transport industry to address it “through continuous proactive measures, and corporate social responsibility principles.” The Declaration includes a zero tolerance policy on counterfeiting, strict supply chain controls and other due diligence checks to stop business cooperation with those suspected of dealing in the counterfeit trade.

This commitment paves the way for new voluntary collaboration programs between intermediaries and brand owners to stop abuse of the global supply chain by counterfeiters.

“We are proud to be among the first in our industry to sign this historic Declaration,” said Michael Jul Hansen, Customs and Trade Compliance Lead for Maersk Line. “Maersk has been a leader in taking steps to prevent the use of our vessels for the shipment of counterfeit and other illicit goods, and this Declaration is a reaffirmation of our intent to do everything we can to ensure our ships are counterfeit free.”

The Declaration is a direct reaction to the concerns of brand owners that vessels transporting their legitimate products were also being exploited by criminal networks to transport fake versions. This phenomenon was summarized in a landmark report on the Role and Responsibilities of Intermediaries: Fighting Counterfeiting and Piracy in the Supply Chain, published in 2015 by BASCAP. Following publication of the report, BASCAP organized a working group of its members to initiate a cross-sector dialogue with the transport industry to discuss ways to work together to find voluntary solutions. Source: Maritime Executive 

by Mike Poverello

FIATA urges Forwarders to challenge ‘unjustified’ shipping line surcharges

international%20shipping%20surcharges-resized-600The international trade association that represents the world’s freight forwarders and logistics service providers, FIATA, has called on container shipping lines to provide greater clarity on the ever increasing variety of surcharges that they apply.

Robert Keen, chairman of FIATA’s Multimodal Transport Institute, said in a statement that forwarders were accustomed to currency and fuel surcharges, but needed more transparency for many of the other surcharges, “often with questionable names and purposes”, that are levied on freight forwarders.

“In the past, we have seen administration fees, peak season surcharges, or ISPS-add on surcharges,” Keen said. “Of late, we have had examples of container cleaning fees and container sealing fees, without any evidence of the expense actually being incurred.”

It is a recurring complaint among forwarders and shippers that have long accused the carriers of using surcharges as revenue streams rather than the cost recovery mechanisms for which they are purportedly imposed.

“It is time for freight forwarders to stop accepting at face value opaque and unjustified surcharges,” said Keen, who is also director general of the British International Freight Association (BIFA).

Keen highlighted the congestion that is currently plaguing many ports around the world.

“There have also been recent examples of port congestion surcharges caused by labour unrest; and haulage surcharges resulting from HGV driver shortages, which is difficult to understand as there is no explanation and little justification for an additional charge for a service that the container line is finding difficult to provide,” he said.

The Hong Kong Shippers’ Council has also taken a dim view of the surcharges being levied on shippers using the Kwai Chung container terminals. Willy Lin, chairman of the council, said the port congestion surcharge introduced by shipping lines in the intra-Asia trade on October 19 was “unacceptable and unjustifiable.” Sources: Lloyds and JOC

by Mike Poverello

FIATA 2014 Young Freight Forwarder of the Year Announced

Ms Nompumelelo Mboweni works as an Airfreight Import Controller at Bidvest Panalpina Logistics in Johannesburg [TT Club]

Ms Nompumelelo Mboweni works as an Airfreight Import Controller at Bidvest Panalpina Logistics in Johannesburg [TT Club]

The 2014 Young International Freight Forwarder of the Year (YIFFY) Award has been presented to South African forwarder Fortunate Nompumelelo Mboweni at the FIATA Annual Congress in Istanbul.

Each year at the FIATA Annual Congress the achievements of young freight forwarders from around the world are celebrated via an awards programme. TT Club is proud to have sponsored this award, now in its sixteenth year, since its foundation. The process of awarding the honour of Young Freight Forwarder of the Year (YIFFY) began earlier this year when entrants from all over the world submitted papers about a wide variety of transport and logistics projects.

These ranged from the transportation of tunnel drilling equipment to Bolivia to the delivery of a catamaran in Indonesia and from a project moving radioactive isotopes from South Africa to Namibia to the expedited deployment of a Disaster Assistance Response Team in the Philippines.

From this bewildering, yet highly professional array, the YIFFY Steering Committee selected a shortlist of four regional finalists. These four young professionals were then invited to attend the 2014 FIATA World Congress this week in Istanbul, Turkey to make a presentation on their dissertation topic.

The four regional finalists who proudly represented the future of the international freight forwarding industry in Istanbul were –

Africa/Middle East: Miss Fortunate Nompumelelo Mboweni, South Africa
Americas: Mr Douglas Whitlock, Canada
Asia-Pacific: Mr Saiful Ridhwan Bin Zulkifli, Singapore
Europe: Mr Christian Hensen, Germany

Following a comprehensive judging process, Ms Fortunate Nompumelelo Mboweni from South Africa was announced as the 2014 Young Freight Forwarder of the Year at the FIATA Congress’ opening ceremony on 13 October. Ms Nompumelelo Mboweni works as an Airfreight Import Controller at Bidvest Panalpina Logistics in Johannesburg. Andrew Kemp, TT Club’s Regional Director for Europe congratulated her and presented the award.

“I have been honoured as TT Club’s representative to be part of the selection process, and I personally was engrossed by the finalists’ presentations, which showed a considerable depth of understanding of their individual projects. I have to say all four finalists performed with flying colours at the recent final presentations; it was certainly a difficult decision to pick an overall winner. However, Fortunate prevailed and deservedly takes this year’s award,” said Kemp.

The award is presented in recognition of forwarding excellence and was established by FIATA with the support of TT Club to encourage the development of quality training in the industry and to reward young talent with additional valuable training opportunities. The TT Club has been a sponsor of the award since its inception and remains firmly committed to the importance of individual training and development within the global freight forwarding community. Source: TT Club

by Mike Poverello

UK Forwarders object to New Air Cargo Surcharge

awb_welcomeIt is becoming more and more evident that every ‘automation’ project entails ‘more costs’. The benefits appear to lie in the ‘comfort’ of doing stuff at your keyboard. Much vaunted ‘cost-savings’ are a myth as technology encroaches every facet of global trading. The following is a fine example.

The trade association for UK freight forwarders and logistics service providers is encouraging its members to object to a Paper Air Waybill (AWB) Surcharge that airlines are planning for export AWBs that are not filed electronically. Robert Keen, director general of the British International Freight Association (Bifa), commented: “Bifa supports e-Commerce and e-Air Waybill implementation in the air cargo supply chain. However, we believe that implementation should create value for forwarders and airlines alike, and airlines need to recognise the costs that the originator of the information incurs to enter and transmit data.”

Keen continued: “Through our international body Fiata, Bifa will be voicing our objection to carriers that seek to apply yet another surcharge, and create yet another revenue stream, under the guise of supporting IATA’s – the airline industry body’s – e-Freight initiative, which aims to implement e-Freight worldwide.” Bifa is asking its members to join in the stand against the introduction of this surcharge by completing an online survey, which can be found here: http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/1782849/Paper-AWB-Surcharge-Survey

The air freight sector missed IATA’s target last year of achieving 20% e-air waybill penetration “on feasible lanes”, achieving just 12%. The target for 2014 has been revised downwards to 22%, with a target for 45% e-AWB penetration by the end of 2015 and 80% by the end of 2016. IATA expects to see an acceleration of penetration levels this year, in part because of the introduction last year of the e-AWB Multilateral Agreement, to which around 70 airlines and more than 100 freight forwarders have now signed up.

But while there is increasing momentum among airlines and air cargo handlers, many forwarders remain unconvinced of the benefits. Chuck Zhao, process engineer project manager at US air cargo handler Consolidated Aviation Services (CAS), observes that only around 6% shipments out of the US are e-freight, largely because “those who cut the paper air waybills simply do not see the benefits of going paperless”.

Michael White, assistant director of cargo facilitation, security and standards for US air freight association Cargo Network Services (CNS) and regional manager of cargo for IATA, observed that there was a need for effective communication routes for the forwarders, especially small and medium-sized ones, to transmit their FWB & FHL messages – preferably a community system rather than via multiple airline portals. He said there was currently no community system in the US, but there were signs that companies are looking at that capability. Source: Lloydsloadinglist.com

by Mike Poverello

SAAFF names top young freight forwarder

From-the-left-are-Maria-du-Preez-Fortunate-Mboweni-and-James-Reddy-from-Bidvest-Panalpina-LogisticsFortunate Mboweni of Bidvest Panalpina Logistics has been named South Africa’s Young International Freight Forwarder of the Year. According to David Logan, CEO at the South Africa Association of Freight Forwarders (SAAFF), the award was based on her submission on the challenges of super abnormal loads and the complexities associated with the handling of ultra-sensitive cargo.

Says Logan: “Mboweni wrote a well-researched paper on two topical subjects: the shipping of highly sensitive material and the management of project (large, abnormal) cargo. The delivery of work was of a high standard and she can be proud of her efforts, which, in my opinion, stands a good chance of winning-at least the RAME [Region Africa Middle East] round.”

“She will now write a dissertation in order to compete in the regional round of the competition, and if she is successful, will be entered as a global finalist into the ‘Final Four’, which will be decided in Istanbul at this year’s Fiata Global Congress.”

The competition was initiated by its lead sponsor, the TT Club, in 1999 and its objectives are the encouragement of training and development in the industry as well as the elevation of professional standards .

Entrants who are brave enough to take up the challenge are obliged to write a dissertation on a topic that is set by SAAFF. This topic allows the entrant to write about current and often challenging issues and to demonstrate their knowledge and expertise on export and import forwarding and clearing matters.

SAAFF’s judging panel carefully adjudicates each entry in order to identify a winner, whose name is then submitted as the candidate for the regional round. As the competition is supported by FIATA (The International Association of Freight Forwarding Associations), it is adjudicated globally through its regional structures, which under FIATA nomenclature is RAME.

The winner of this round then goes through to the finals comprising the three other regional winners and the global winner is announced at the FIATA Global Congress each year.

Logan concludes: “The status attached to this competition is enormous and reflects positively on both the individual and the company for whom they work. Naturally, only freight forwarders may enter.”

In 2012, SAAFF’s entrant, Daniel Terbille, won the global competition and Logan says they have faith in Mboweni doing well in this international event. Source: Trans World Africa

by Mike Poverello

SAAFF Accredited to Award FIATA Diploma

SAAFFFreight & Trade Weekly reports that the South African Association of Freight Forwarders (SAAFF) has been accredited to present and award the internationally recognised FIATA Higher Diploma in Supply Chain Management. “The industry  body was accredited following presentations to the FIATA Advisory Board on Vocational  Training at the FIATA Congress in Singapore at the end of October this year,” says Tony d’ Almeida, director at SAAFF responsible for education, training and development.

He said SAAFF was effectively one of only 14 professional bodies around the world accredited to offer this industry leading qualification. “SAAFF will be the custodian of the Higher Diploma which is pitched  at NQF level 7, two levels higher than the FIATA Diploma in Freight Forwarding which SAAFF is also entitled to award in South Africa, and which has already produced 22 graduates,” says d’Almeida. He notes that the minimum requirement for consideration for entry into this Higher Diploma is a relevant university degree, or a national diploma or the FIATA Diploma in Freight Forwarding.

“All accredited SAAFF  training providers may offer this  programme to suitably qualified students,” d’ Almeida states. He says this qualification is “very relevant” to the freight forwarding industry. “SAAFF therefore made the strategic decision to apply for accreditation to help alleviate the current critical shortage of skilled people who not only know the process of supply chain, but can also apply their expertise in innovative ways that add value to the entire process,” he says. D’ Almeida adds that aspects relating to global supply chains are constantly evolving, making it vital for every player to be at the forefront and fully aware of these trends.

“Added to this, the industry has to come to grips with rapidly evolving technology in our everyday business practices that is coming at frightening speed. Being able to ratify skills against global standards  and benchmarks brings enormous value to the business, the client and the individual,” he says. Source: Freight & Trade Weekly.

by Mike Poverello

eAWB – Biggest achievement in standard-setting in air freight in 20 years

freightStandardization of the format for the e-AWB is expected to accelerate the industry’s move toward paperless transportation. Before this, Leger says, carriers were confronted with signing hundreds or even thousands of separate bilateral agreements with individual forwarders. He went on to describe e-AWB “the biggest achievement in standard-setting in air freight in 20 years.”

Following a year-long development process culminating in three months of trials that involved 15 carriers and eight forwarders, the IATA/FIATA Consultative Council (IFCC) endorsed the multilateral e-AWB agreement in February with some minor amendments. IATA formally adopted the agreement as its new Resolution 672 at the 35th Cargo Services Conference (CSC/35) in Doha, immediately ahead of the World Cargo Symposium. Click Here! to view the new Resolution.

The agreement was this week filed with governments, from whom IATA is seeking expedited approval in 30 days. “We hope to go live before mid-year,” Leger says. “We see e-Freight as essential for the future competitiveness of air cargo, and the e-AWB is the cornerstone of e-Freight. Agreeing the multilateral e-AWB is a game changer, and should go a long way toward reaching our target of the 20 percent e-AWB adoption rate we have set as our target for 2013.”

While early adopters in the airline community, including Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, Korean Air and Singapore Airlines, overcame the logistical obstacles, they commented that having to draft separate bilaterals with forwarders would prevent wider implementation and delay the e-Freight objective.

“The standard bilateral that we initially developed, which allowed forwarders to make their own amendments, still left the industry facing extra costs but rapidly proved the concept,” Leger says. “Cathay adopted it in 2011 and then, in the middle of last year, we started work on the multilateral agreement.

“There were long discussions between carriers and forwarders as we tried to come up with an acceptable formula. This did not concern technical or operational aspects, but was more to do with what the governing law should be. Each nationality wanted to follow its own jurisdiction and consensus was necessary.”

As soon as trials began in October, Leger says the participants could see the value of the multilateral agreement. IATA hopes it will acts as the springboard for its ultimate target of 100 percent conversion to e-AWB by 2015. Source: Air Cargo World News