Australian coal export certification agency CCI has joined the Internet-based trade finance platform, bolero.net.
Coal is Australia's number one export and CCI certifies between 45-50% of the coal exported from Australia every year. This equates to 20% of all coal shipped around the world. CCI export certification will now be processed electronically through the Bolero system.
Following successful testing, CCI will initially implement bolero.net with BHP Billiton, which is taking part in a bolero.net trading chain involving exports from Australia to the Far East.
CCI says that a key reason for joining bolero.net is the boleroXML standards programme, which has published 80 document definitions covering 95% of documents most commonly used in world trade.
Denise Gallagher, CCI managing director, says: "As our core business is 'superintending', we obviously have an important role to play in current and future 'bolero.net connected' coal exports. The standardisation of certificates throughout the trade chain is a particularly significant benefit that will lead to greater efficiency for all participants."
Peter Scott, bolero.net commercial director, comments: "Over the past six months the adoption of bolero.net has been spreading virally through the metals and mining sector with major players such as BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and CVRD all coming on-board...CCI's announcement that it intends to adopt bolero.net is a therefore a significant development."