Mumbai: Tata Steel recently completed the first-ever CargoDocs electronic Bill of Lading (eB/L) transaction for imports into Turkey, in a shipment involving Tata Steel Limited as the shipper and Tatmetal Çelik Sanayi Ve Ticaret as the receiver. The milestone transaction covered the export of steel coils in bulk, shipped from Dhamra Port, India, to the Port of Karadeniz Eregli, Turkey.
The original eB/L was handled via CargoDocs, the digital trade platform provided by essDOCS, with all key actions such as drafting, collaborative review, sign, issue, endorse and surrender carried out online via the single, secure platform – eliminating reliance on emails and error-prone manual processes, and significantly accelerating the trade. Specifically, the original eB/L was transferred throughout the entire chain in less than 48 hours, compared to days or even weeks required in a traditional paper-based transaction.
Tata Steel’s recent shipment into Turkey marks yet another milestone in a series of successful paperless transactions initiated and completed by the Company, supporting its strategic digital trade efforts aimed at optimising shipping & trade document processes. By using eDocs, the Company achieved significant time and cost savings, improved trade transparency and visibility, reduced the risk of fraudulent documents and eliminated the need to use charterer’s Letter of Indemnity (LOI).
On the milestone transaction, Rajeev Singhal, Vice President, Marketing & Sales (Flat Products), Tata Steel, said: “Tata Steel pioneered in executing digital transactions for exports shipments in March 2021 by leveraging both in-house potential and external ecosystem. This transaction underscores our efforts of leading technology-led disruptions and is a notable milestone in our journey towards 100% digitalisation. We will continue to make our supply chains more agile in order to provide seamless and secure ways for our suppliers and customers to connect and execute transactions with added visibility, efficiency, and speed.”
Ayhan Uçar, Chief Commercial Officer of Tatmetal Çelik Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş., said: “Digitizing the international logistic processes between Tata Steel and us is a move that will directly increase efficiency in our mutual business. Additionally, this project is an important indicator of the innovation visions of Tatmetal Çelik and Tata Steel in global trade. We hope this meaningful cooperation, a pioneer for our country and our industry, will yield positive results for both sides, and also for regional and international trade.”
In April 2021, Tata Steel executed a first-in-the-global-steel-industry blockchain-enabled paperless trade transaction involving steel export to a customer in UAE. Later in the year in November, the Company executed a blockchain enabled paperless export order with a metals major in Bangladesh.
Tata Steel has been working towards incorporating new ways of transforming the order to cash cycle by executing and broad-basing blockchain-based paperless transactions in geographies like Bangladesh, Europe, and the Middle East covering three different shipment modes – Road, Breakbulk, and Containers. Many digital initiatives such as Digi-Bill (e-submission of Invoices) – a digital platform for paperless transactions for inbound material delivery, Margdarshak – for tracking and re-routing vehicles, among others have already been deployed to manage the supply chain and ease the transactions carried out by the Company’s suppliers.
