FIATA launches electronic FBL in Asia Pacific, plans for blockchain

Busan — The International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations (FIATA) expanded offerings of its paperless bill of lading (FBL) in Asia Pacific this week, growing digital opportunities in the region. The documents are secure, paperless and available through transportation management systems (TMS) and other software tools. [caption id="attachment_57132169" align="alignright" width="422"] FIATA Director General Stephane Graber and FIATA President Ivan Petrov speak at a Sept. 16 press conference in Busan, South Korea[/caption] “This is a great chance … for Korea to grow within this new modality, a new tool through blockchain technologies or small- and medium-sized members of KIFFA [Korean International Freight Forwarders Association] that had the chance to launch this tool,” FIATA President Ivan Petrov said during a press conference at the FIATA World Congress in Busan on Sept. 16 . South Korea implements eFBL With FIATA’s eFBL launch in Asia Pacific, forwarders in South Korea can utilize the tool, a goal FIATA hoped to accomplish with its World Congress last week, Petrov said. South Korea uses the maximum number of FBLs each year — more than any other country — and is already the largest user of FIATA’s eFBL, FIATA leaders said. FIATA is working closely with KIFFA to implement the eFBL in South Korea and involve local forwarders through training workshops and demonstrations, FIATA Deputy General Stephane Graber said. “Once we have done the contractor part, it's really about marketing support and process support so that [KIFFA] can then also inform and train their members for the usage of the eFBL,” Graber said. Needing a digital solution FIATA launched the eFBL in May and now has 15 software providers who support it, along with eight national associations of freight forwarders who have signed distribution agreements to allow members to utilize the bill of lading. FIATA members have been very interested in using the eFBL, Graber said, with some companies pushing for their national association to sign on to the new processes. The biggest challenges have been in standardization of conditions for usage and recognition between different jurisdictions of the eFBL, he added. FIATA’s electronic FBL (eFBL) also is under proof of concept to be digitalized with blockchain technology in partnership with the Geneva-based Arab Bank Switzerland for end-to-end encryption and payment. For now, FIATA utilizes information from the United Nations U.N. and provides secondary options for transfer, like printing or exchanging as a PDF instead of blockchain, when digital transfer is not possible, Graber said. “But for the time being what we wanted to offer the members is the document that is fully digitalized and that helped them to become digital freight forwarders and that is easy to use … whatever the legal variant, they always can switch to the paper [bill] in order to present an original for the transaction,” he said. Blockchain capabilities Beyond digitalizing the FBL, FIATA and Arab Bank Switzerland plan to make the bill of lading a non-fungible token (NFT), able to be digitally exchanged between parties without a software system. “This is really powerful, because it means that we can bring global standard instantly at a fraction of the cost, because if we look into the infrastructure right now, we have to connect to APIs, which require a lot of resources,” Romain Braud, digital assets business development director at Arab Bank, said in the panel discussion “Digital Supply Chain: Opportunities and Challenges for Business” at the FIATA World Congress on Sept. 16. Arab Bank acts as a “safe keeper,” or custodian, of the eFBL in its digital safe and facilitates the transaction settlements between parties, Stephane Sepede, commodity trade finance managing director at Arab Bank, said during the panel. The blockchain piece of the project is still in development before it goes into commercial transaction, Tej Contractor, chairman of FIATA’s advisory body on information and technology, said during the panel discussion. The final phase of the proof of concept with a full test transaction will take place in October, according to a FIATA release.

FIATA launches electronic FBL in Asia Pacific, plans for blockchain

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