Swift announced it is working on proof of concept trials to enable interoperability between different electronic bill of lading (eBL) solutions. Eight out of ten of the approved eBL solutions use blockchain and so far it is working with two of them, CargoX and edoxOnline.
Despite COVID, only about 1.5% of bills of lading are electronic. In February, the Digital Container Shipping Association (DCSA) made a key breakthrough by getting nine major ocean carriers to commit to eBL. Within five years, half of their bills of lading will be electronic, rising to 100% in ten years.
A recent McKinsey study predicted eBL could enable $6.5 billion in direct cost savings and $30 – $40 billion in growth in global trade.
However, there are ten different approved eBL providers. That potentially involves ten different integrations that need to be created and maintained. But more than that, without interoperability, all the participants in a shipment – the shipper, consignee, trade finance bank and carrier – must use the same eBL network.
In February 2022, the BIMCO,…