Stumbling into the digital era: How can electronic Bills of Lading achieve functional and legal equivalence to paper Bills of Lading?

Cost effectiveness is one of the crucial key factors driving the shipping and trading industry. Nowadays global trade involves multiple parties and sectors across international borders, and numerous paper transport documents, such as paper bills of lading (pBLs), are handled and disseminated around the world. With the advent of digital technology, electronic solutions are arguably ripe for the replacement of pBLs. The key benefits of using an electronic bill of lading have long been identified as the speed of transfer, the avoidance of external costs and removal of need to use Letters of Indemnity. As an alternative to the transfer of physical endorsements, electronic bills of lading (eBLs) are processed and transferred automatically by a computer system that constructs the information electronically using agreed standards. However, the journey of promoting eBLs is not all smooth sailing. Despite the growing number of private and public projects and initiatives during the past 40 years, the maritime world has yet seen the dawn of the electronic age. On the contrary, pBLs remain a staple in international trade, despite years of criticism over delays, costs and security risks. This thesis seeks to identify the underlying reasons for the stagnation in the development of this key legal document. It will demonstrate that, apart from the technical challenges, the real impediment to a true replacement of the pBL is the formidable legal challenges in reproducing the three principal functions of the antique paper-based trade document, for which the existing paperless implementations have failed to provide anything but a piecemeal solution. In coming to this finding, the thesis will also examine the effectiveness of the various legislative efforts, both nationally and internationally, to address the legal issues identified in the thesis. Finally, the author will attempt to speculate on the trends and prospects of the evolution of eBLs in the light of the observation