Electronic Bills of Lading (eBLS)

The eBLS mission is to replace outdated and inefficient paper cargo shipping documents with a number of interoperable web-based eDocs providers offering the secure and effective production and transfer of electronic shipping documents, including specifically the negotiable bill of lading.

EBLS Project status:

• QC (Queen’s Council) Opinion on DSUA (Databridge Services and Users Agreement) received; following which revisions are being made. The Opinion is now available to LEAP members on the website.
• DSUA will be available for use by companies engaged with ESS (Electronic Shipping Solutions)
• European Product trial evaluation completed on Databridge version 1 - participants expressed satisfaction.
• ESS have released version 2 of Databridge and selected companies are reviewing GUI.
• Preparations for development at North Sea Terminals underway with key players.

* PLEASE NOTE THAT LEAP AGREES TO MAKE THE QC OPINION AVAILABLE TO MEMBERS SOLELY ON THE BASIS THAT THE RISKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES ARISING FROM USE OF THE DSUA REST ENTIRELY WITH INDIVIDUAL COMPANIES ENGAGING WITH ESS AND NOT WITH LEAP.

Possible Future LEAP Workgroup Projects:

• Coordinate development of Standard shipping documents with UNeDocs – currently under discussion.
• Publish standard amendment to GTCs and Charter Party’s to enable use of electronic documents.
• Coordinate with other committees on reference Data and document standards.