Seeking novel proposals to translate electronic transfer of shipment details on an existing pre-printed bills of landing (BL)/manifest automatically

Background

A solution is sought to translate electronic transfer of shipment details on an existing pre-printed bills of lading (BL)/manifest to specific port customs pre-printed document in an automated manner, thus eliminating development work required for each port specific customs manifest format.This solution can be used internally or industry wide.

Scenario description:

• Shipping details are printed on existing pre-printed form e.g. BL or manifest.
• Various customs departments require shipping details to be printed on port specific customs manifest format e.g. format specific to Myanmar, Philippines, India, and Kolkata.
• To cater to these numerous formats, shipping companies need development time & effort for each specific customs manifest format.
• It is time consuming and cumbersome to test the programs developed every time a new format is to be introduced/on-boarded.
• The effort for this is significant due to involvement of multiple parties in the integration process – e.g. developer for program development, users for testing, customs personnel for liaison on the requirements and also for integration testing.
• Each port has a specific format for the customs manifest. To develop N number of programs to meet each port specific requirement, the time & effort is N times.
• We are seeking a software solution that can translate the existing information populated in the BL or manifest to any specific customs manifest format without program development, which will save time and effort and reduce onboarding time significantly.

Requirements

Pain Points

1. Need to liaise with customs personnel on the requirements.
2. Sometimes requirements gathering is not direct to the customs but via our agents. So, there is be waiting time before we receive any reply.
3. A lot of time is spent on email-exchanges and calls so as to ensure that the query raised is well understood and the reply that is received addresses the query accordingly.
4. Engaging the user to perform the testing.
5. Time & effort required to verify on the accuracy of the data populated in the customs manifest.
6. Need to accommodate to each other’s schedule for performing integration with customs.
7. An effective solution should have the following criteria:
   • No development effort required, thus saving development time & cost.
   • No user/customs personnel involvement.
   • As the data populated in the customs manifest is based on existing data retrieved from the existing tested BL or manifest, the populated data will be accurate with minimum user intervention.
   • Faster turnaround time i.e. time to deliver the completed product is immediate or almost immediate
   • Increase in productivity and reduce in cost (time & effort to develop and integration testing)
8. Time consuming to customize each port specific customs manifest & requirements gathering.
9. Challenging working in different time zone as port customs may not in the same time zone.
10. Different level of communication & comprehension as English may not be port custom’s main language, and requests may need more clarification.

NOTE:

Depending upon business/operational/regulatory requirements, there can be multiple instances of such electronic shipping instruction (eSI) onboarding per year. Depending on the customs, regulatory or industry requirements of the country, it can be as few as once or twice a year. At other times the count may go up to 10-15 per year if there is regulatory change for example.

Potential Constraints

Disparate stakeholders from different geographies

Trade and Connectivity Challenge 2020

The present Innovation Call is part of the Trade and Connectivity Challenge 2020 co-organised by Enterprise Singapore along with IPI Singapore.

Singapore’s position as a strategic trade hub is backed by its strong regional networks and connectivity. In recent years, Singapore has also transformed into a hub for innovation activity.

The Trade and Connectivity Challenge (TCC) leverages Singapore’s vibrant ecosystem of global trade, connectivity and innovation as a call for solutions to drive partnerships in the aviation, maritime, land mobility, logistics, and trade sectors. Now, in its second year, TCC 2020 continues to provide opportunities for startups and SMEs to co-innovate, deploy, and adopt innovative solutions.

Enterprise Singapore, together with IPI, invites you to showcase your innovative solutions in growth areas, such as big data analysis, Internet of Things and sustainability post-COVID19.