Bolero has completed the first live air freight shipment over its online trade finance system, in conjunction with Grattan, part of the Otto Versand mail order group.
The shipments were carried on Cathay Pacific using Jetspeed, a Hong Kong-based Air Cargo forwarder, and involved imports of ladies knitwear (containing 56 Cartons, weighing 348kg) from Hong Kong to the UK. Other parties involved in the trade chain included Shing Fun, the textiles company in Hong Kong that manufactured the goods and Grattan's bank, HSBC.
Otto commenced live bolero.net sea freight shipments out of Hong Kong into UK and Germany back in November 2001 and it estimates that over 90 per cent of all Hong Kong consignments, about 7000 per annum, will be on the bolero.net system before the end of the first quarter next year.
Roz Walmsley, imports manager for Otto UK says: "I can now confidently assure my colleagues in buying and merchandising that stock will be available for sale in time for promotions - maximising Otto UK's sales and profitability. The system pays for itself in the savings from administration and courier costs alone."
Once a sale has been agreed, all contractual and fulfilment details are administered online using the bolero.net system. In the past, up to 20 paper-based documents were typically required for a single shipment.