3 McKinsey analysis based on interviews with experts, carriers, and shippers. McKinsey analysis indicates that the bill of lading accounts for between 10 and 30 percent of total trade documentation costs. The bill of lading, issued by carriers to acknowledge receipt of cargo from the shipper, is one of the most important trade documents required for shipping. 2 Henk Jan Gerzee, “Why digital standards matter in global trade,” The Loadstar, June 16, 2022.

Documentation for a single shipment can require up to 50 sheets of paper that are exchanged with up to 30 different stakeholders.

1 Alan Mitchelhill, “Evolution of the bill of lading,” in Bills of Lading, Boston, MA: Springer, 1990.Ĭurrent trade documentation spans many documents and processes, and is a manual, time-consuming, and resource-intensive process for all stakeholders. Today, the bill of lading process is still reliant on the physical transfer of paper records and applies to roughly 40 percent of all containerized trade transactions.

This article is a collaborative effort by Didier Casanova, David Dierker, Ludwig Hausmann, Bjørnar Jensen, and Jaron Stoffels, representing views from McKinsey’s Travel, Logistics & Infrastructure practice.įast forward to the year 2022: The world has changed dramatically, but the bill of lading remains relatively unchanged.