Portugal introduces electronic waybills

Portugal has joined the group of countries that have ratified the Additional Protocol to the CMR Convention on Electronic Bill of Lading. Portuguese carriers expect the solution to be of great benefit.

The International Road Transport Union (IRU) and its member, the Portuguese Association of Carriers ANTRAM, have announced Portugal’s accession to e-CMR. The government ratified the Additional Protocol to the CMR Convention on September 26 this year.

Joining e-CMR, according to ANTRAM, will make Portuguese companies more efficient and transparent in their supply chain and help them reduce costs.

e-CMR tests in Europe

This year, the first attempts were made to transport ADR using electronic transport documents. The pilot transport of hazardous materials was carried out by Den Hartogh Logistics in April this year. The tests were conducted in cooperation with the Dutch Inspectorate for Environmental Protection and Transport (ILT). Currently, the Dutch perform about 100 ADR transports per day using an electronic consignment note. The system tested in the Netherlands is TransFollow:

This spring, a French-Dutch-British project was launched, which includes the first ever e-CMR transport across several borders. According to the IRU (International Transport Union), this transport was performed by the French company Transports FIOLET. The route began in France, driven through the Netherlands, from where the truck arrived by ferry to the United Kingdom. The TransFollow platform was also used during these tests.

e-CMR’s first cross-border transport took place in early 2017. Then a truck with oranges belonging to Primafrio left Spanish Huelva, crossed the border with France in Pertus and arrived to Perpignan in France.