India's FFFAI Launches First e-FBL Program

India's Federation of Freight Forwarders' Associations has launched the country's first smart and interactive electronic FIATA (International Federation of Freight Forwarders Association) Bill of Lading (e-FBL) program. The event was hosted on the CODEX platform for its members at its Diamond Jubilee celebration on June 9, 2023 in Delhi. The portal powered by Kale Logistics Solutions was introduced by Shri Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Government of India. Dr. Ivan Petrov, President of FIATA, also attended the ceremony. “The main objective of FFFAI is to organize united action to promote the interest of each member and deploying the e-FBL initiative will ease business and logistics cost for our members. This initiative is also in alignment with the government’s vision fo digital India and paperless trade.”Shankar Shinde, Chairman, FFFAI & IFCBA The FIATA paperless Bill of Lading enables freight forwarders to easily issue a secure e-FBL with a single click, eliminating the need for double data entry. Members of FFFAI can generate the bill in three ways: through API integration with internal systems, through excel uploads, or through the use of an innovative machine learning interface that pulls data from legacy PDF or scanned documents into the FIATA format with greater than 95% accuracy. The e-FBL effort will be game-changing for the broader ecosystem since it will not only aid in the scaling of large-scale automation and transparency, but it will also provide end-to-end communication between stakeholders and eliminate security issues in the logistics ecosystem.“We are delighted to serve the members of FFFAI with our next-gen CODEX platform. The salient feature of our solution is standardized data exchange along with secured access capabilities. This will reduce nearly USD 50 for each shipment with respect to documentation, courier and postage charges.” Vineet Malhotra, Co-founder and director of Kale Logistics Solutions It includes a smart QR code that enables users to verify the document's integrity, security, and accountability. Each FBL document is stored on an immutable ledger and may be validated at any moment by all stakeholders that interact with it. This first-of-its-kind project by FFFAI will revolutionize India's whole ecosystem and propel the country's Ease of Doing Business and Logistics Performance Index rankings even higher. See also: ULIP to be integrated with the coal ministry's digital systems3PL, manufacturing sectors drives high warehouse demand in India