A Customer’s Perspective on the Potential of Digitization and How BL Approval Is Supporting It
 

Whenever our customers want to review, edit, or approve their bills of lading or sea waybills, they expect the process to be as smooth and efficient as possible. As part of Hapag-Lloyd’s Online Business Suite, the BL Draft Approval web solution helps to meet these expectations. Many satisfied customers are already using the tool and benefit from its simplicity and intuitiveness. We asked our Turkey-based customer Kinay Transport & Logistics about the digital future of logistics and why they value the efficiency of BL Draft Approval.
 

About Kinay Transport & Logistics S.A.

Kinay Transport & Logistics S.A. has a long-standing position on the market. Indeed, the company is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. After it started operating as a shipping agent in 1946, it developed into a leading transportation services provider in Turkey. Its business activities and services include tramp chartering and brokerage, ship operation, freight forwarding, port services, and mineral trade. Currently, the logistics player has five overseas subsidiaries – in the UK, Benelux, China, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Digitization Matters

For Sina Kinay, Chairman of the Board, and Korkut Nadir, Deputy General Manager, digitization is one of the major trends. They believe it will change the logistics industry significantly. Following the developments closely, Mr. Kinay and Mr. Korkut are convinced that ever-progressing digitization will help companies such as their own improve customer satisfaction and make transportation safer and more effective. Early on, Kinay Transport and Logistics S.A. integrated robotics process automation into their activities. Sina Kinay explains, “This technology has greatly increased data quality and productivity.”

BL Draft Approval Increases Productivity at Kinay Transport & Logistics

One of the main goals for the company’s team is to consistently increase the productivity and efficiency of their processes. With BL Draft Approval, Kinay Transport & Logistics is on a promising path towards their goal. After integrating robotics process automation, it was logical for the team at the logistics company to start using Hapag-Lloyd’s BL Draft Approval as well. “Our experience with the BL Draft Approval web solution has been very positive. When it was first launched, we were rather skeptical of using it. Our main concern was that it would slow down our business processes and affect our team’s productivity. However, these worries proved needless,” says Korkut Nadir, satisfied.

The team at Kinay Transport & Logistics uses BL Draft Approval in their daily business and appreciates its intuitive design.
“You can review, edit, or approve the drafts by simply clicking on the submit button. You receive the finished draft very quickly. The BL Draft Approval web solution is an efficient and time-saving tool,” Mr. Nadir notes.

The Shipping Industry of the Future

Mr. Kinay notes that: “Another interesting topic is full automation via the Internet of Things, drone transport, or remote-controlled vessels. I believe that these developments are the future, but I don’t think they will have more impact on the shipping industry than the application of blockchain technology. By using blockchain technology, business transactions could be finalized via smart contracts.” Kinay goes on, “These are self-enforcing contracts that would allow for safe trading, peer-to-peer transfer, and a decentralized financial system. Blockchain systems offer transparency, efficiency, speed, and security, as well as cooperation between all players across the shipping industry, which will surely create opportunities.”

Hapag-Lloyd Always One Step Ahead

Hapag-Lloyd has recognized these ongoing trends as well. In an effort to provide paperless solutions that make the lives of our customers easier, we now offer our customers worldwide the electronic bills of lading – eBL – a service jointly provided by WAVE and Hapag-Lloyd.

We are continuing to improve and optimize our existing web and mobile solutions, while also further developing online tools in order to provide our customers with the best service and experience. Our Online Business Suite – a fully featured platform – addresses these requirements exactly, helping our customers to manage their shipping processes seamlessly online. And we are more motivated than ever to continue on this path – because it is the future of our business.
 

Thank you very much for the interview, Mr. Kinay and Mr. Nadir!
 

You can learn more about our web and mobile solutions in our Online Business Suite.