The challenge
Fr. Meyer’s Sohn (FMS) provides logistics and freight forwarding services to customers around the world. With more than 1,400 colleagues globally, moving documents securely and efficiently is an important part of keeping trade moving.
But paper originals come with familiar problems. Documents need to travel between parties and across borders, creating the risk of envelopes being lost or delayed along the way. When that happens, it means extra work, extra cost and lost time.
For FMS, moving to electronic Bills of Lading (eBLs) offered a way to remove that friction.
The solution
FMS has been using digital trade documents for the past four years and now handles documents such as eBLs digitally on an almost weekly basis.
One example was a transaction from Europe to China, completed with Enigio through its integration with TradeGo.
A process that would have taken at least two weeks using paper took just 45 minutes digitally.
And because Enigio is an open solution, the other parties don’t need to register or subscribe to Enigio before they can receive and handle the documents.
“You can do it within a couple of minutes and send out the original document.”
The impact
For FMS and its customers, the benefits are straightforward: less waiting, less risk of documents getting lost in transit, and less work managing paper.
Digital originals can be transferred in minutes rather than couriered around the world. Customers get greater security for their documents, while FMS can keep the process moving without asking every party involved to join another platform.
As FMS puts it, it simply makes life easier.
What FMS achieved
- Digital originals sent in just a few minutes, rather than relying on paper and international couriers
- Reduced risk of original documents being lost or delayed in transit
- Documents such as eBLs handled digitally on an almost weekly basis
- A digital Europe-to-China flow using Enigio through its integration with TradeGo
- Counterparties able to receive and handle Enigio documents without registering or subscribing