CargoX Completes FIATA eFBL Pilot Under Draft UNCITRAL Convention - Trade Treasury Payments

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CargoX Completes FIATA eFBL Pilot Under Draft UNCITRAL Convention

CargoX, a blockchain platform, has successfully facilitated the first fully digital FIATA Multimodal Bill of Lading (eFBL) pilot under the draft United Nations Convention on negotiable cargo documents. 

The initiative, conducted during the 45th session of the UNCITRAL Working Group VI, tested the application of electronic FIATA Multimodal Bills of Lading across road, rail, and sea transport within a single digital framework. 

A step for digital trade

International trade has long relied on paper-based transport documents, with each mode of transport requiring separate documentation. The proposed UNCITRAL convention seeks to ease this paper burden by establishing a negotiable cargo document applicable across multiple transport modes. The FIATA Multimodal Bill of Lading has been identified as a viable candidate for this role, and the recent pilot was designed to assess its effectiveness in a fully digital environment.

The shipment used in the pilot involved the transportation of 2000 tonnes of fertilisers from Turkmenistan to Romania, moving through road, rail, and sea without paper documentation. 

The process, managed by Caspian Container Company, incorporated electronic issuance, transfer, and surrender of the eFBL on the CargoX blockchain-based platform. The system allowed each stage of the process to comply with FIATA standards and UNCITRAL’s draft legal framework, which is aligned with the principles outlined in the UNCITRAL Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records (MLETR).

Andrea Tang, Legal Services Director FIATA, said: “This pilot marks a significant milestone in advancing digital trade, offering a practical demonstration of how electronic multimodal transport records, such as the eFBL, can streamline multimodal transportation along critical trade corridors. It highlights the transformative potential of digital data exchange to deliver unmatched speed, enhanced data security, and greater trust in global trade transactions. The inclusion of UNCITRAL’s draft legal provisions on Negotiable Cargo Documents underscores the immense opportunities afforded by a robust legal framework. Together with the technical interoperability enabled by the eFBL standard, this initiative sets a promising course for more efficient and effective digital supply chains.”

Gadam Charyyev, of the Caspian Container Company, said: “We found the electronic processing of the multimodal bill of lading to be highly effective and aligned with our expectations. The CargoX Platform streamlined our operations and opened up new possibilities for further automation and efficiency. This pilot is a testament to the transformative power of digital solutions in global trade logistics.”

Peter Kern, VP of Sales at CargoX, said “The success of this pilot not only showcased CargoX Platform’s eFBL technological capabilities, but also reinforced the importance of public-private collaboration in shaping the future of trade documentation. This pilot paves the way for the broader adoption of electronic negotiable documents, signaling a new era of efficiency and transparency in global trade.”

UNCITRAL Working Group VI

The UNCITRAL Working Group VI is expected to finalise its convention on negotiable cargo documents by July 2025, with formal adoption by the United Nations General Assembly anticipated later in the year. 

If implemented, the convention would establish a legal basis for negotiable electronic cargo records across different transport modes, potentially reducing inefficiencies in global trade. The results of the CargoX eFBL pilot will give these discussions a case study showing digital trade documentation that complies with new international legal standards.