Posted on April - 03 - 2010
FedEx now ships overseas sans paperwork
FedEx started offering paperless trade documents for shipments to 60 countries Monday.
FedEx Electronic Trade Documents eliminates paper-wasting and sometimes tedious manual processing of air waybills, invoices and other documentation supporting international shipments.
Officials with the Memphis-based company said the environmentally friendly feature saves customers time and money. Paperwork that used to be picked up at the same time as a shipment can now be submitted earlier for review and approval.
“It has a lower carbon footprint, it saves paper and printing costs,” said FedEx spokesman David Latham. “It appeals to a broad customer segment, because there’s no volume requirement. You can use it if you’re an individual shipper” or a high-volume customer.
Michael Ducker, chief operating officer and president of international for FedEx Express, said, “ETD benefits our customers from day one by allowing them to easily migrate to a fully automated international shipping experience, with no disruption to their current business.”
The service is available for FedEx Express shipments to countries that accept electronic documents, and for FedEx Ground shipments between the United States and Canada. Most western European countries accept electronic paperwork for both import and export shipments, while Asia-Pacific countries like China, India and South Korea accept it for imports, but not exports.
“Until now it was basically a manual process,” Latham said. “In most cases you had to print out three copies of each thing, and you had to sign most of those documents. If you’re doing one shipment, it’s not a problem, but if you’re doing multiple shipments or hundreds a day, that was a problem.”
Electronic documents are available through the FedEx Ship Manager function at FedEx.com.
–Wayne Risher: 529-2874
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