APM Terminals continues roll-out of digital export processing at Russian terminals
A paperless export processing system has been introduced at Petrolesport (PLP) and Ust-Luga Container Terminal (ULCT), Russia. The company’s First Container Terminal (FCT) become the first Russian terminal to transfer to a fully paperless export management system for containers in 2020. Now customers of all marine terminals of the Group in the North-West of Russia will be able to manage export shipments via the Global Ports Unified Customer Portal, according to APM Terminals's release.
The terminals are part of the Global Ports group, a joint venture that combines the global expertise of APM Terminals (30.75%) with the local knowledge of Delo (30.75%), one of the largest private transportation and logistics holding companies in Russia. Global Ports is the leading operator of container terminals in the Russian market by capacity and container throughput based on 2020 throughput and information published by the Association of Sea Commercial Ports.
Alexey Ermolin, Chief Information Officer of Global Ports, said: “The experience of implementing electronic export management at FCT has proven its success, and we have decided to expand this service to all of the Group's marine terminals in the North-West of Russia. Now customers of PLP and ULCT do not need to re-enter data into the Federal Customs Service (FCS) system – the information in the customer's account on our portal is automatically transferred to the customs authority in electronic form. In September 2021, we are planning to implement the service at Vostochnaya Stevedoring Company, located in the deep-water port of Vostochny”.
Digitising the last "paper" element of export processing, a shipment order, speeds up the processing of cargo shipments. The technology of the digital exchange of legally binding documents with the customs authority is based on Global Ports’ Customer Portal and Sea Port’s Portal software functionality.
The adoption of this technology means that the procedure of order preparation by forwarding companies and issuance of documents confirmed by customs has been completely digitised. Moreover, once a digital order has been issued, the terminal may start loading a container onto a vessel immediately without additional approval, further speeding up the process. All participants of the process – the forwarding company, the customs authority, the terminal and the shipping line – have online access to information about the status at all stages of the process.
The information operator of the service is ROLIS, an IT-solutions developer (a Global Ports Group company). ROLIS is certified to transmit information to the FCS in electronic form.
Global Ports is the leader in digitisation among the ports of the Russian Federation. As a result of the development of its IT services, the total volume of electronic cargo documents at the Group's terminals reached 80%.
