Enigio AB has announced the successful completion of the inaugural digital end-to-end trade document transaction, made possible by their trace:original solution. The shipment consisted of paper products originating from Antwerp, Belgium, going to Delhi, India.

The transaction involved various parties and document types that harmoniously collaborated. Fr. Meyer’s Sohn, the freight forwarder, efficiently managed the transportation and generated electronic bills of lading. Th Brunius & Co AB, the global trader, contributed trade documents such as the invoice, packing list, insurance policy, and certificate of origin. These documents were seamlessly received digitally by both the importer and Fr. Meyer’s Sohn in India, who subsequently released the goods.

This transaction was based on contract law pending the Electronic Trade Documents Act coming into force. 

The trade document transaction provided the targeted proof points and business benefit realisation, which were set out to be measured, including but not limited to:  

  • Document transaction time was reduced to 1 working day instead of previously 9 days, 
  • ensuring that the original documents were in place prior to the vessel’s arrival, 
  • reduced courier costs, 
  • increased security with limited fraud risk, and 
  • more sustainable, no production or transport of paper documents. 

Heiko Voigt, Chief Executive Officer, Fr. Meyer’s Sohn said, “The world of logistics gets more and more complex and mission-critical. Efficient and structured collaboration between all involved parties on the basis of up-to-date information and documents at all times is a core issue for us – not just since the pandemic. We constantly strive for increasing and optimising the performance and thus the value of our customers’ supply chains. Therefore, we are very pleased that  we were able to successfully complete this pilot with our partners Th Brunius and Enigio on this important path,”

“Th Brunius always strives to improve our processes and to enhance details in our business. We believe that digital trade documents can be a new, exciting part of international transactions. After evaluation we found trace:original to be easy to onboard, efficient, and flexible for our customers. Perhaps most important trace:original met our standards on safe handling, limiting payment risk,” says Kristina Hansson, Chief Financial Officer, Th Brunius & Co AB. “At Enigio we are very pleased to have concluded this transaction and to have demonstrated that our strategy to digitally mimic the existing paper processes works efficiently. We believe in a solution that is easy to implement, can be used by all parties in trade without extensive onboarding nor a cumbersome IT-project,” says Ulf Eggefors, Enigio’s Head of Transport & Logistics.