Leading multinational mining & metals conglomerate, Hydro, recently went live with CargoDocs electronic Bills of Lading (eB/Ls) for its export shipments, executing a series of  transactions covering bulk alumina export from Brazil to Norway. Hydro’s Brazilian Alumina refining entity, Alunorte Alumina Do Norte Do Brasil S.A., acted as shipper in the trades, with Hydro Alumninium SA in Norway acting as buyer.

The recent transactions are preceded by a formal RFP process, where Hydro Alunorte, the world’s largest Alumina refinery outside China, selected CargoDocs to power its eDocs initiative for digitizing and automating Bills of Lading and other export documents.

Hydro’s collaboration with essDOCS dates back to 2019, when several of its entities signed up for CargoDocs, initially acting as receivers of cargoes. Since then, the leading mining & metals company has embarked on an initiative to digitize, streamline and centralize its post-trade document processes, and will now move to eDocs to cover all Alumina export shipments out of its Alunorte Brazilian asset.

Commenting on Hydro’s recent go-live and use of CargoDocs for its Alumina exports, Mauricio Fiock, Senior Manager of Operations and Maintenance of Port Area at Hydro Alunorte, said: “The initiative aimed to resolve an important issue in foreign trade, which is to streamline and make the issuance and delivery of Bills of Lading to end customers more secure. We want to standardize this procedure at Hydro Alunorte and use it for all shipments abroad. We are at the forefront of electronic documents in the alumina industry, contributing to the refinery's leadership in the world market.”

Katerina Anagnostara, Chief Success Officer, essDOCS, said: “We are thrilled to have been selected to support Hydro Alunorte’s journey to fully paperless trade and look forward to our continued work together in enabling our customer’s efforts. essDOCS has been working closely with Hydro Group who executed the first ever paperless trade in the alumina commodity segment back in 2019. Their focus on digitizing their shipment documentation process is admirable and goes hand-in-hand with our ongoing work towards digitally transforming metals and minerals supply chains for all stakeholders involved.”