Idemitsu Coal Marketing Australia, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Idemitsu Kosan with mining operations in Queensland and New South Wales, recently completed its inaugural electronic Bill of Lading (eB/L) transaction. The go-live shipment involved coal cargo, shipped in bulk from Newcastle, Australia to Europe with Idemitsu Coal Marketing Australia acting as shipper.

The end-to-end bill of lading flow – from B/L drafting to B/L surrendered – was handled digitally, with all parties achieving significant time efficiencies and eliminating paper-related documentation delays. By handling the original eB/L and all key actions online in a single, secure platform, Idemitsu Australia and their customer eliminated reliance on paper, emails, error-prone/fraud-prone manual processes, and efficiencies with distribution of documents thus considerably accelerating the transaction.

Key digital transaction steps included:

• The shipper, Idemitsu Coal Marketing Australia, digitally drafted the eB/L online and initiated the collaborative review process
• The stakeholders collaboratively reviewed the eB/L draft online
• Thereafter, the agent digitally signed the eB/L on behalf of the Master and issued it to the exporter, who then digitally transferred it to the buyer
• Finally, the eB/L was surrendered by the customer to the Shipowner for swift discharge of the cargo
   

Commenting on this paperless milestone, Con Vouvoulis, Manager Marketing Commercial, Idemitsu Australia, said: "We found the process to be very quick, easy and efficient from the initial draft to release of B/L’s to our customer, thus saving significant time in the chain and security of documentation."