On 11 June, Norway became officially the 26th country to accept electronic CMR (eCMR). Through this announcement, Norway ensures that entire Nordic region can enjoy benefits of using this electronic document.
“The ERTICO partnership has been at the forefront of the digital logistics through the AEOLIX and FENIX initiatives. Furthermore, the partnership offers training on the topic and we actively engage in debate with Ministries of Transport and national road authorities within our membership on next steps in transport digitalisation. eCMR is only one piece of a large logistics digitalisation puzzle, but it is essential as it is the key element connecting shippers, forwarders, transport operators, drivers, road and customs authorities.” said Zeljko Jeftic.
CMR is a UNECE convention regulating Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road, and is supported by the CMR document, which is the most frequently used transport document in cross-border road freight transport in Europe and large parts of EurAsia. It is estimated that approximately 140-200 million CMR documents are used for cross-border transports in EU. While widely used, CMR like any other paper-based document leads to inefficiencies in logistics chains. By starting to use electronic version of the document authorities and logistics industry will remove inaccuracies, delays in for example invoicing and will reduce need to use paper, thus leading to environmental benefits.
As highlighted at the recent ERTICO webinar on digital logistics, eCMR is also essential in preventing further spread of COVID19 within logistics chain as it removes need for physical contact between people, which is required when handling paper document.
To find out more about ERTICO – ITS partnership work in the field, and about benefits of joining the ERTICO partnership, please contact Cordelia Wilson.
