An open standard for electronic bills of lading is the first task of B...

An open standard for electronic bills of lading is the first task of BIMCO’s new Standards, Innovation & Research department

Published: 15 February 2022

It’s a task that’s already well under way. BIMCO is working together with many other key stakeholders in the eBill space to help substantially increase the acceptance and use of electronic bills of lading. The open standard bulk shipping bill of lading is due to be published in March

A new type of charter party is another task. BIMCO will start a wide-ranging dialogue with industry stakeholders about the potential development of a new type of charter party that better reflects a more cooperative, transparent and collaborative approach to chartering ships in an era of digitalisation and decarbonisation. It is known as the “4th Way Project” and is due to begin in March.

The new BIMCO Standards, Innovation and Research Department, abbreviated to “SIR”, was set up in February and will focus on digitalisation in shipping. The aim is to identify future business trends so that BIMCO can deliver products and services to you, our members, utilising technological advances to meet new requirements. SIR will research, develop and promote innovative digital products and services that incentivise digitalisation and help reduce the technology and data disparity between BIMCO members. An important part of this task is the development and promotion of open standards that support harmonisation and interoperability with a focus on documentation.

SIR will draw on cross-organisational expertise for specialised projects as well as invite industry experts to provide their valuable assistance. The day-to-day operation of SIR is the responsibility of Grant Hunter and Mads Wacher Kjaergaard, who between them bring nearly 30 years of project work and applied technology experience from BIMCO’s Contracts & Clauses Department.

If you want to know more about the work of the BIMCO’s Standards, Innovation & Research Department please contact us on innovation@bimco.org .

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