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Maritime Digitalisation

Maritime digitalisation is transforming the global shipping industry, driving greater efficiency, transparency and resilience across the supply chain. Through the adoption of digital technologies, standardised data exchange and electronic documentation, stakeholders can streamline operations, enhance decision-making and support sustainability objectives. This page provides insights, guidance and resources on key developments in maritime digitalisation and their practical application across the industry.

Seafarer Digital Certificate Charter Header (1)

Purpose and Scope

Establish common principles for issuing, revalidating, managing and verifying seafarers’ digital certificates. The Charter aims to:  

  • Improve efficiency and trust while protecting seafarers’ rights and personal data
  • Set common principles for digital seafarer certificates
  • Make verification faster and more reliable
  • Improve interoperability and reduce administrative burdens and fraud risk
  • Protect personal data, rights and access to remedies
  • Support cyber security and operational resilience 
  • Support the uptake of a harmonised data set based on the IMO Compendium, ensuring alignment with existing international standards. 

Our Commitments 

  1. Adopt a unified data set

  2. Enable interoperable data exchange 

  3. Support verification and transparency
  4. Promote efficiency and accuracy
  5. Protects seafarer’s data rights
  6. Collaborate on technical standard
  7. Ensure long-term sustainability

This Charter is voluntary. Parties may adopt it and, if they choose, refer to it in contracts, policies or procedures. Parties will publicly acknowledge their signatory status to the Charter. 

DEclaration

We invite all maritime stakeholders – including shipowners, operators, port authorities, technology providers and regulatory bodies – to join this initiative.

Together, we can agree on and adopt a common, robust, future-proof framework that supports the digitalisation of seafarers’ certificates. 

Contact our team to find out more about this Charter

Why is shipping moving to electronic Bills of Lading?

 

Join Mads Wacher Kjærgaard from BIMCO as he dives into a critical question for global trade: How does the traditional paper bill of lading compare to its electronic counterpart?

In this video, we follow the journey of a shipment from Australia to China, exploring the costly delays and risks of paper bills versus the speed, efficiency, and security of electronic bills of lading (eBLs).

Discover why switching to eBLs is the smart move for modern shipping. Don’t miss this look at the future of trade.

WEBINAR RECORDING

5 things you should know about electronic bills of lading


Watch a recording of a BIMCO 15+15 webinar held on 2 October, where BIMCO's Grant Hunter gives a short presentation of the current situation and takes questions from the audience.

The industry is increasingly using electronic bills of lading (eBLs) as it recognises the benefits and opportunities that digital transformation brings. Many of the problems associated with using paper bills of lading can be avoided by using eBLs which:

  • reduce the need to use letters of indemnity, which give rise to legal and commercial risks
  • provide faster delivery through more efficient processing
  • reduce emissions by eliminating the need to courier paper bills.

Complete Guide to Electronic Bill of Lading Adoption for the Bulk Trades

Read our quick start guide for eBLs

Paper bills of lading are inefficient and slow down trade. They are vulnerable to fraud and human error. Their use results in unnecessary legal and commercial risks such as relying on letters of indemnity or getting lost in transit. BIMCO is a founding member of the Future International Trade (FIT) Alliance helping to raise awareness and accelerate adoption of electronic bills of lading.

The BIMCO eBL Standard

BIMCO has developed and published an electronic bill of lading standard (eBL Standard) for the bulk shipping sector. Our goal is to help accelerate the digitalisation process by establishing common industry standards for electronic bills of lading.

The eBL Standard is a structured dataset consisting of 20 predefined data fields that are common to bulk shipping bills of lading.

Download in PDF format Download in Excel format