2004 Press Release
New integrated eCommerce portal provides overall efficiencies for forwarding community
SINGAPORE, 19 February 2004 - The Singapore Logistics Association (SLA) and leading IT service provider CrimsonLogic have teamed up to launch Automated Manifest System (AMS)-Logistics Facilitation Portal, an online trade facilitation portal, to enhance the competitiveness of SLA's members. This portal allows SLA members to submit regulatory declarations critical to their line of work, and helps them to streamline operations and increase their overall efficiency.
Developed and managed by CrimsonLogic, the AMS-Logistics Facilitation Portal is an integrated eCommerce portal encompassing the United States AMS submission, Singapore trade declaration, Malaysian trade declaration, Certificate of Origin applications, global vessel schedule, global cargo booking and freight management. Unlike the disparate information technology environments used by the trading community currently, this portal uses integrated trade and logistics platforms, and allows SLA members to receive data from their shippers and subsequently reuse the same data for both local and AMS declarations. This eliminates the need for data to be re-keyed and manual documents regenerated at almost every stage of the trade and logistics process.
Facilities are also available to streamline the internal operations of forwarders. With integration to the CrimsonLogic TradePalette Freight and TradeWeb system, the AMS-Logistics Facilitation Portal allows forwarders to do freight management, tracking and documentation, real-time status updates by email or SMS alerts, shipping line integration, data sharing, and linkages to forwarder and shipper systems.
Members can also choose to transact cargo bookings and document submissions with up to 35 main shipping lines on the portal.
" With the multitude of competitive pressures being exerted onto our members today, we need to be innovative in striving to achieve cost reductions and increase service speed,” said Stanley Lim, Chairman of the SLA. “With the introduction of the trade facilitation portal, our members will be able to reduce on their courier trips, cut down on duplicated data entries and streamline their internal operations.”
V. Mathivanan, CEO of CrimsonLogic said, “SLA first contracted CrimsonLogic with the possibility of setting up an integrated regulatory submission system for Singapore and US Customs declarations. We are already planning a similar concept for our customer base which shares a strong overlap with the SLA member base. One thing led to another and the concept of this trade facilitation portal was established.”
The portal is subscription-based with transaction charges designed to be cost competitive with the operations of the logistics operators today. Moving forward, there are plans to incorporate trade declarations in up to 10 countries in the portal. This portal will also track and implement new regulatory procedures such as the upcoming AMS submissions for Canada as well as other new policies to reflect changes in the regulatory landscape.