The latest edition of Portsider, the newsletter of intermodal liability underwriter PIMS Intermodal, has a long article on the uptake of electronic bills of lading within international forwarding and the ways that underwriters have come to accept e-bills as part of the modern shipping and transport landscape.

Underwriter Alexander Brewster writes:

"Certainly in the early days of the introduction of the idea of electronic bills of lading, there was a long period of reflection within the Marine and Transportation market as to whether the range of claims thinkable would be covered by wordings which had never contemplated this type of trading. The EssDocs approach and rules envisage that electronic bills are just as negotiable as the paper documents and are to be used in the same way as paper documents as documents of title, evidence of the  contract of carriage and receipts for the goods. They may even be brought to an end mid-term and return to paper in cases where the need to do so is identified. "

Read the article in full by clicking on the link below:

http://pimsmultimodal.com/july_2013.html