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 (eBL) 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 BL drafting to BL surrendered – was handled digitally, with all parties achieving significant time efficiencies and eliminating paper-related documentation delays. By handling the original eBL 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 eBL online and initiated the collaborative review process
• The stakeholders collaboratively reviewed the eBL draft online
• Thereafter, the agent digitally signed the eBL on behalf of the Master and issued it to the exporter, who then digitally transferred it to the buyer
• Finally, the eBL 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 BL’s to our customer, thus saving significant time in the chain and security of documentation."