It's plain sailing and net gains for e-shipping firm

ADAM GIFFORD finds paperless documentation is smoothing a shipper's import hassles.

One of Owens Group's shipping companies has developed a completely paperless import documentation system allowing importers to clear shipments even before the container is lifted onto the docks.

CMA CGM Owens Shipping trade manager Damian Milicich said the system became possible when Ports of Auckand's container-handling division, Axis Intermodal, shifted some of its processing to the internet.

"It required us to go to their website and tick a box to show the container had cleared, so it still required some manual input," Mr Milicich said.

"For us it didn't provide real time savings or benefits."

Mr Milicich and Mark Hales, the information systems manger for CMA CGM Owens Shipping's parent company, Seatrans, looked for an easier way to interface with the Axis Intermodal website, and a better way of getting release numbers to clients.

"When we examined the process in detail, we found that by eliminating the paper completely, we could save ourselves time and provide a much better service to our customers," Mr Hales said.

When a container ship leaves port, an import manifest is sent by EDI (electronic data interchange) to the destination, telling the shipping agent what is in the containers.

From this data, the agent generates arrival notifications and invoices, which are sent to the importers.

When the importers pay the invoice, they get a delivery order, which they pass on to the transport company to collect the goods from the wharf.

The whole process involves frenetic activity and couriers racing between the agent, the importer and the transport company as the ship steams up the gulf.

Under CMA CGM Owens' new system, arrival notifications and invoices are sent out by e-mail, immediately saving up to two days.

When the payment comes in, the customer is e-mailed a release document replacing the old delivery order.

At the same time, details of the shipment, including container numbers, are sent to the port by EDI. This automatically updates the website.

The system generates a random six-digit Pin number, which goes on both the release and the message to the port.

That number is all the driver needs to show when collecting the container from the port.

Mr Milicich said the advantages of the system, which has been working for about six weeks, are particularly noticeable on the short transtasman hauls.

On longer hauls, the manifest typically arrives five days before the ship, and the notifications are e-mailed out immediately.

"Now, 99 per cent of cargo is cleared before the ship is unloaded. Before, it used to be about 70 per cent," Mr Milicich said.

Seatrans is extending the system over the next fortnight to cover the four other shipping companies in its group.

CMA CGM is a French firm which operates an eight-vessel round-the-world container service from Europe and the east coast of the United States to New Zealand, returning to Europe via Australia, Southeast Asia and the Mediterranean.