Bolero and TradeLens partner to fast-track electronic bills of lading

By Leandra Monteiro

Bolero International, a provider of cloud-based trade finance digitisation solutions, announced a collaboration with TradeLens, the blockchain-based global trade platform for containerized goods, with the goal of delivering a seamless digital experience for customers using electronic bills of lading in trade finance transactions.

The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the importance and fragility of global supply chains and how disruptions have costly impacts on interconnected global economies. This has fuelled demand for a wide range of digital solutions, including the use of electronic bills of lading, a key shipping document facilitating the transfer of title of the goods. Until now, organizations were often forced to use multiple solutions to address the complexity and diversity of the challenges in global trade, resulting in an inconsistent approach and disjointed customer experience.

Bolero’s trade finance digitisation platform, Galileo, securely connects corporate clients with their trade partners and banks and allows corporates to manage all their Letters of Credit, Guarantees, Standby LCs, ePresentations under LCs, Open Account and Documentary Collections, and electronic bills of lading in one central solution.

The TradeLens eBL simplifies the issuance, transfer, and surrender of original shipping documents in structure format allowing for the digitisation and automation of supply chain and financial processes. It is an eBL solution accepted by the industry, including ocean carriers, banks, and regulators.

In this collaboration, TradeLens eBL will be integrated into Galileo, connecting the two platforms’ respective and growing networks of banks, corporates, and supply chain participants. This will provide a streamlined and seamless experience for users of Galileo who wish to leverage TradeLens eBL’s carrier network.

Andrew Raymond, Bolero CEO said, “Bolero has the vision to connect the physical and financial flows to digitise trade finance. For this to happen, we need to be able to provide a common view of the data and documentation that is shared between all parties in the supply-chain process. Our investments in the Galileo platform make this possible.”

“Our strategy with Tradelens is to provide access to the TradeLens Electronic Bill of Lading from within the Bolero Galileo application. This will leverage the Bolero bank network to more easily connect corporates and banks involved in financing goods in transit. Our goal is to become an aggregator of various electronic documents in Trade to provide a single point of access to our clients and give both Banks and corporates the ability to easily access and exchange these documents as part of their Trade transaction flows.” added Raymond.

“We developed TradeLens as an open and neutral industry platform. Our open APIs and simplified onboarding allow corporates and banks to use our digital services, including the TradeLens eBL, when and where they need it. The Integration with Bolero will help increase trade velocity across our business networks and accelerate the industry-wide move toward paperless trade finance transactions”, said Michael White, CEO of GTD Solution and the TradeLens platform.

The approach of integrating solutions where customers need them is common in the digital realm, which means users of technology gain access to services without additional or multiple integrations. This collaboration is a practical example of connectivity for global trade and platforms and enables local communities in emerging and developed markets to participate in financial and trade opportunities.