“Paperless customs clearance” for international shipping has become popular in many countries and regions.
In this article, Weefreight will share some key countries and their process-saving aspects, which we hope will be of value to you.
United States: The United States began promoting paperless transactions as early as the late 20th century, generally accepting electronic bills of lading as proof of delivery. Its highly automated port and customs systems enable rapid verification of the authenticity of electronic documents, speeding up customs clearance and reducing the risk of delays caused by lost original bills of lading.
Singapore: As one of the world’s leading shipping centers, the Port of Singapore Authority actively supports digital transformation. Businesses can complete the delivery process by submitting a certified copy of the electronic bill of lading. For example, when COFCO Foods Import & Export Co., Ltd. exported canned goods to Singapore, it achieved online electronic document processing throughout the entire process through data collaboration using electronic bills of lading. This increased document processing efficiency by 80% year-on-year and reduced labor costs by 30%. Traditional paper bills of lading took 5-10 days to process, while electronic bills of lading were completed in just 2 days.
Maersk has launched a digital customs clearance platform in Germany, France, Denmark, the Netherlands, Poland, the UK, and Spain in these European countries. This platform enables timely and efficient processing of import and export declarations, reducing the number of intermediate steps for customers to handle customs clearance from three or four to one. This reduces quote processing time by 3-5 minutes per quote and reduces the time spent on paper documents and transaction procedures.
Peru: The Peruvian National Customs and Tax Administration has achieved 100% digitalization of its customs clearance processes and services. Through the customs electronic system, businesses and government have achieved a paperless office environment. From the end of 2020 to November 2021, the average total release time for Peruvian imports decreased by 40% from 59.7 hours to 36 hours, while the total release time for export goods decreased by 86% from 8.2 hours to 1.2 hours.
China: Some Chinese ports, such as Yantian Port, have implemented paperless bill of lading exchange throughout the entire process. For example, COSCO SHIPPING Lines South China’s Hong Kong barge import heavy container service, a task that previously took one or two people one to two days, now takes just over 10 minutes online, streamlining the process from four steps to two.
If you have any international logistics service needs, please contact us by clicking the floating chat icon in the lower right corner or using other contact information in the lower right corner of the page!
