Paper documents keep global cargo trade afloat

The main container shipping lines, McKinsey said, could save as much as US$6.5bil a year in direct costs if they fully adopt digital bills of lading. — Bloomberg

NEW YORK: They are relatively easy to fake. Frequently get lost. And can add huge amounts of time to any journey. Yet paper documents still rule in the US$25 trillion global cargo trade with four billion of them in circulation at any one time.

It is a system that has barely changed since the 19th century. But that dependence on bits of paper being flown from one party to another has become a vulnerability for companies which move and finance the world’s resources around the globe.