The pandemic has brought renewed focus on improving supply chain resilience and efficiency. BIMCO, working with other bodies such as the ICC and SWIFT has introduced data standards for bulk shipping in order to facilitate wider utilisation of electronic bills of lading (eBLs). There is currently a fragmented offering by a few closed networks without interoperability and, with only a handful of countries enacting enabling legislation, this voyage is far from over and will not be plain sailing.

In a sense, it is a chicken and egg problem - without sufficient volumes, the stakeholders such as shippers, consignees, and the financial institutions will not invest in digitising their processes and upskilling their staff, leading in turn to poor take-up rates.