The digital transport document is getting closer and closer

When it comes to CMRs, consignment notes and transport control documents, many people are still surprised that they are still handled on paper and not digitally.

The exchange of paper documents is a contagion risk for all employees who have to handle paper, and the standardisation of the "virtualisation" of documents will be a breakthrough for the industry, in addition to the many advantages such as environmental preservation, process optimisation, transparency within the supply chain and traceability.

The difference between the paper document and the electronic document is that in the electronic document there is a trusted third party who manages the data in the cloud, where all the information is uploaded as it is produced and, from the moment the document is signed, the data is frozen.

This is an essential document, as it allows centralising and sharing the information that the company has with respect to a client or supplier but, however much technology has advanced, this management is still done on paper to this day.

There are many of us who are in favour of promoting the digitalisation of road transport and thanks to this, the exceptional situation we are experiencing as a result of COVID-19, which several business associations of shippers (Aeutransmer and Transprime), hauliers (Astic, CETM, Fenadismer and Feteia,) and transporters (Astic, CETM, Fenadismer and Feteia-Oltra) and freight forwarders, together with the main technological platforms operating in the sector (Pionira, Transfollow, Wanatruck and e-customs), have decided to implement practical measures to promote and generalise the replacement of the traditional physical paper format with the digital format.

We hope that this initiative, which has a national scope, will be extended to all EU countries in a uniform way so that all the technological platforms that will soon flourish can work in a single, joint way.

At Transports Porqueres, one of our values is constant improvement and the search for innovation in all our day-to-day processes. For this reason, we support the digitalisation of the CMR in order to continue to carry out the same procedures as always, but in a simple, fast, efficient, sustainable and safe way.