If we could assign a single, overarching theme to capture the core essence of our news flow during the past year, and more so over the last quarter, it would most certainly be Trade Digitisation. The 2015 focus-shift towards digitisation tells a crucial story in its own right - illustrating the industry's desire to take a more holistic approach towards going paperless, broadening the scope of digital uptake to incorporate new technologies and solutions that are certain to propel paperless trade to new heights in 2016.

On that note, we'd like to once again wish you all a great New Year, as we renew our commitment to further enabling your ongoing journey to digitised trade!

Industry News & Views

Logistics managers should prepare for surge in Global Trade Management demand: Logistics Management offers insights into the anticipated surge in demand for paperless trade solutions. + READ MORE

A new Digital Era for Trade: According to JP Morgan, Trade Digitisation is sure to dominate the Corporate and Bank agenda going forward more than ever before (source: Sibos Blog via JP Morgan). + READ MORE

SWIFT-accelerated Connectivity Between Banks And Corporates: SWIFT's Andre Casterman on the shifting corporate-to-bank connectivity landscape, enabled by solutions like CargoDocs (source: Global Finance Magazine). + READ MORE

Co-operation needed for flow of goods across borders: India calls for paperless trade uptake to enable co-operation between customs authorities and facilitate smooth flow of goods & capital across borders (source: Economic Times). + READ MORE

ASEAN Trade Migration needs Finance Innovation: Why South-East Asia’s future as a leading global manufacturing centre depends on trade finance innovation (Source: Growth Crossings, The Economist). + READ MORE

Digital Trade Developments: TradeFinance Training weighs in on the need to digitise trade finance, providing an overview of key technological developments and the perceived challenges ahead. + READ MORE

Trade procedures must be simplified to improve regional integration: The APAC UNESCAP Trade Facilitation Forum concludes with a decisive call for countries to increase paperless uptake (source: UNESCAP). + READ MORE

Sibos Poll - electronic Bills of Lading are No.1: essDOCS CEO Alexander Goulandris weighs in on a recent Sibos poll which yielded some very interesting results (source: LinkedIn). + READ MORE

7 good reasons to ratify and implement the WTO TFA now: UNCTAD's Jan Hoffman offers his reasons to ratify & implement the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement now (source: LinkedIn). + READ MORE

Trade Digitisation Market Adoption Report: Latest insights and metrics on Banks & Corporates adopting digital trade across the globe (source: SWIFT for Corporates). + READ MORE
 

An Animated History of Containerisation (VIDEO): Check out Maersk Line's animated history of the unsung hero of globalization, the standardized shipping container (source: YouTube). + READ MORE

Why Paperless is More in Trade Finance: essDOCS Consulting's Jacco de Jong on how Paperless Trade Finance is disrupting traditional products and delivery channels no differently than digital services like Netflix & Spotify (source: essDOCS via Financial IT). + READ MORE

Red tape, risk can harm Africa trade, Bin Sulayem warns: DP World Chairman, Sultan Ahmad Bin Sulayem, argues for cutting red tape and adopting paperless trade as a means of countering Africa trade risks (source: Gulf News). + READ MORE

United States Mandates Use of e-Invoicing by 2018: The US Government moves one major step closer to 100% paperless processes by mandating the use of eInvoicing (source: Taulia Blog). + READ MORE

Another major step towards Paperless Agri: Contracting parties agree to commence ePhyto Hub pilot tests in mid-2016, following the recent IPPC ePhyto Symposium in Korea (source: LinkedIn). + READ MORE

A Milestone for the electronic Air WayBill (eAWB): Effective March 1, 2016, fifteen air carriers will switch to the eAWB as the preferred process for shipping air freight (source: Descartes Blog). + READ MORE

The State of FinTech in 2015: A brief yet insightful Infographic on the biggest FinTech trends and deals of the year (source: Bobsguide.com). + READ MORE

essDOCS Company News

essDOCS appoints new Chariman of the Board of Directors: Non-Execuitve Board member Andre Toet succeeds former Chairman of the Board of Directors, Barry Williams. + READ MORE

essDOCS CEO wins European CEO Award 2015: Alexander Goulandris awarded European CEO magazine’s European CEO Award 2015 in the Trade Technology Solutions category. + READ MORE

Introduction to essDOCS (VIDEO): essDOCS releases its first ever corporate video, an animated introduction to who we are, what we do and how we do it - the first in a series of more to come. + READ MORE

essDOCS leads eB/L Workshop at SKULD P&I: Skuld P&I hosted a series of workshops on electronic Bills of Lading – the first of their kind in Greece – led by essDOCS VP Global Rollouts, Katerina Anagnostara. + READ MORE

Consulting alongside Asian Development Bank in Fiji: Find out how essDOCS Consulting's work alongside ADB is helping Pacific Banks optimize their trade finance capacity to support regional trade. + READ MORE

essDOCS at Roundtable Discussion or risks relating to LOIs: essDOCS VP APAC & Head of Metals, Bevan Davies, discussed the role of eB/Ls in eliminating LOI use and countering risks arising from cargo misdelivery and paper-fraud. + READ MORE

essDOCS presents CargoDocs at LEAP Conference in Houston: essDOCS VP Americas, Marisa McGuire Martin, presented CargoDocs in a thought-provoking session co-paneled with Shell Trading. + READ MORE

CargoDocs News

UBS signs on to CargoDocs: Becoming the 27th global banking group to adopt the solution. + READ MORE

BBVA sings on to CargoDocs: Becoming the 1st Spain-headquartered bank to adopt the solution. + READ MORE

Panama embraces CargoDocs: First ever use of CargoDocs electronic Bills of Lading for a shipment into Panama. + READ MORE

Zeeland Refinery releases CargoDocs Video Case Study: An inside look into ZR's rapid journey to 100% Paperless Trade. + READ MORE

Credit Suisse & Westpac complete first CargoDocs eDocumentary Collection transaction: For a bulk Agri shipment ex-Brazil to Vietnam. + READ MORE

CargoDocs 15.5 released: Featuring major improvements in functionality, accessibility and ease-of-use. + READ MORE

essDOCS in Numbers