Swieqi, Malta – essDOCS, the leading enabler of paperless trade, announced a partnership with an industry group of members of the National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA), the premier trade association representing U.S. agribusinesses.
The industry group directing and funding this project includes representatives from NGFA and the following member companies: Bunge North America, Inc.; Cargill, Inc.; Archer Daniels Midland Company; CGB Enterprises, Inc.; CHS Inc.; The Gavilon Group; Louis Dreyfus Company; Zen-Noh Grain Corporation; American Commercial Barge Line; and Ingram Marine Group.
Following a rigorous search process, the NGFA-member group selected essDOCS’ CargoDocs solution to form the backbone of a nationwide digital barge document platform for its members’ counterparty trades. The NGFA eBarge solution will digitize the 70,000-100,000 negotiable barge Bills of Lading that NGFA members handle each year.
NGFA has over 1,000 member companies, responsible for merchandising 70+% of U.S. grains and oilseeds production for domestic and export markets. NGFA members’ annual domestic barge trades involve cargoes carried by around 17,000 barges, managed by 15-20 barge lines and traded between 30-40 companies. These shipments flow from 150 origins to around 40 destinations nationally.
The industry-driven solution will be based on a customized version of essDOCS’ CargoDocs DocEx platform, which will digitize the administration of the barge trade. The system will digitally handle the trade string and documentation process to increase speed, efficiency, and visibility without altering the way the trades take place.
Charlie Delacruz, Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary, NGFA, said: “From its inception, this has been an exciting and rewarding project with enormous potential benefit for the industry. NGFA is proud to be a part of this industry-driven project. essDOCS was selected by the industry group from a field of strong candidates for multiple reasons including essDOCS’ reputation, experience in the industry, and that its proposal stood out as the best fit while being the most cost-effective.”
Alexander Goulandris, co-CEO essDOCS, added: “This type of ambitious market-wide project is becoming the norm even in logistics and trade, as digitalization is now widely acknowledged as a key factor in the success of companies globally. We are delighted to partner with the NGFA member group and aim to deliver massive digitization of this market in just a few short months.”
Detailed scope work is currently underway, with development, testing and delivery of the NGFA digital barge solution split into two phases and targeted for completion by end Q1 2020.
About the NGFA
NGFA, established in 1896, consists of more than 1,000 grain, feed, processing, exporting and other grain-related companies that operate more than 7,000 facilities and handle more than 70 percent of all U.S. grains and oilseeds. Its membership includes grain elevators; feed and feed ingredient manufacturers; biofuels companies; grain and oilseed processors and millers; exporters; livestock and poultry integrators; and associated firms that provide goods and services to the nation’s grain, feed and processing industry. NGFA also consists of 33 affiliated State and Regional Grain and Feed Associations, and NGFA is co-located and has a strategic alliance with North American Export Grain Association, and a strategic alliance with Pet Food Institute.
About essDOCS
essDOCS enables paperless trade. Its solutions digitize and automate paper-heavy processes, including: online creation/approvals/management of all export documents (CargoDocs DocHub), data extraction and structure from paper documents and back-office automated checks (CargoDocs Auto-Document Processing), end-to-end eDocs management for original electronic trade documents such as Bills of Lading and Warehouse Warrants (CargoDocs DocEx), application/issuance of electronic Certificates of Origin (essCert) and fully digital trade instruments under URBPO (Cmatch).
Over 45,000 companies, ranging from 31% of the Fortune Global 100 to innovative SMEs, use essDOCS solutions across 203 countries.
Media contacts
NGFA Sarah Gonzalez, Director of Communications, NGFA sgonzalez@ngfa.org
202-289-0873, ext. 111
essDOCS Nicholas Demetriou, CMO, essDOCS nicholas.demetriou@essdocs.com +30 210 724 5960