ESC Vice Chair Calls for More Supply Chain Collaboration

“e-CMR, if used throughout Europe, will open the opportunity for parties in the supply chain to exchange logistical data. It will improve the quality of the supply chain. It will be much easier to apply “control-tower” techniques. These techniques enable supply chain partners to plan the most efficient route for a lorry to arrive at the right time at the consignee or pick-up point for the consignment”, said Machiel van der Kuijl, the Vice Chair of the European Shippers’ Council, at the prestigious SIL Logistics Fair (Salón Internacional de la Logística y de la Manutención) in Barcelona, 6-8 June 2017.

After his successful presentation on longer and heavier vehicles at the SIL Logistics Fair last year, Machiel van der Kuijl was asked to speak again. This year in his presentation he addressed the development of e-CMR in Europe.

The situation on e-CMR requires more cooperation on behalf of supply chain parties and Member States. The controlled deployment of electronic CMR documents between Spain and France has been started successfully. But the majority of Member States have not still ratified the eProtocol allowing to use electronic documents. ESC together with other European associations like IRU (International Road Transport Union) are lobbying Member States and the European Commission to speed up this process.