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Digital Container Shipping Association (DCSA), a neutral, non-profit group established to further digitalization of container shipping technology standards, in conjunction with its nine member carriers, has published data and process standards for the submission of shipping instructions and issuance of the bill of lading (B/L). DCSA B/L standards are aligned with the UN/CEFACT (United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business) multimodal transport reference data model to ensure a global industry framework that accelerates digitalization through a unified industry effort. This is the first publication of the multi-year DCSA eDocumentation initiative which will deliver standards to enable digitalization of end-to-end container shipping documentation, starting with the B/L.
The DCSA eBL standard publication comprises the following documents: DCSA Standard for the Bill of Lading 1.0, the DCSA Industry Blueprint 3.0, the DCSA Information Model 3.0 and the DCSA Interface Standard for the Bill of Lading. The Standard for the Bill of Lading, Industry Blueprint and Information Modelare immediately available to download for free on the DCSA web site. The Interface Standard will be available for download in January 2021. To facilitate implementation and compliance, API definitions will be published on SwaggerHub, and a reference implementation will be available on GitHub, also in January.
The DCSA Standard for the Bill of Lading can be implemented immediately to streamline and align paper-based B/L data and processes. Subsequent releases of DCSA's eDocumentation initiative will include data and process standards for: booking request and confirmation, arrival notice and release shipment.
DCSA member carriers include: MSC, Maersk, CMA CGM, Hapag-Lloyd, ONE, Evergreen, Yang Ming, HMM and ZIM.
