There are some rare but special occasions when heavily promoted new products not only live up to their claims, they actually exceed them. In the early days the computer revolution generated a number of extraordinary successes, and the desktop PC is now a fixture of most businesses, large and small. Unfortunately the growth of e-commerce and the commercial use of the Internet has not been the same - both have been marred by excessive, unfulfilled promises and commercial disasters, to the extent that the average businessman can now be excused for being skeptical about any new products that come onto the market.

But a recent e-commerce system introduced by Tradelink Electronic Commerce Limited (“Tradelink”) is turning out to be one of those rare exceptions: a product that not only does its job brilliantly, it delivers a lot more as well. This system - the electronic cargo manifest service, or EMAN as it is more commonly called - is something for all traders in Hong Kong to celebrate and embrace.

Putting it to the test

In April 2003, the Hong Kong government first confirmed and then began to implement its decision to replace all paper shipping manifests with electronic files. In 2004, with the technical support of Tradelink, EMAN became mandatory for rail and air cargoes; and in 2005 it was time to make it mandatory for shipping. Despite assurances that this would save trading companies time and money, and free up human resources, the Government was well aware that there would be some initial concerns, especially amongst the more traditional businesses, so they invited some companies to try EMAN on a test basis and report on its effectiveness. One of the companies that volunteered to be part of the test was a well-established freight forwarder, Golden Fame Shipping Limited. According to Tina Tam, Executive Director of Golden Fame, the EMAN system was something she had actually been looking forward to.

“I think it’s an excellent concept,” she said. “But it was also very appealing because Tradelink is working with China’s Nanfang GPS platform. We are looking forward to the full synchronization of the two platforms so that eventually we can submit manifests to both Hong Kong and China authorities using one interface.”

(At the moment, Tradelink and Nanfang GPS, developed by Guangdong Nanfang Haian Science & Technology Co. Ltd., share the same file format, which to Golden Fame is already a great leap forward from the old paper submission age.)

One stop - then it’s go!

As Golden Fame quickly discovered, EMAN has been very well thought out, is easy to install and use, and is extremely effective in delivering benefits right from the start.

The advantages are enormous. When using the on line electronic manifest platform, carriers need to submit their manifest information only once. The system then automatically sends the manifest to the three government departments who handle shipping information: the Customs and Excise Department (C&ED), the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD), and the Trade and Industry Department (TID). All follow-up communications are then done on line, including Manifest Amendment and the Receipt of Manifest Demand, Outstanding Advices, Detention Notices and Release Vouchers. Government departments can question orders by simply placing an enquiry onto the system, and it will subsequently appear on the relevant computer screen in the carrier’s office. A staff member at the carrier’s office can then respond quickly and easily through the same platform. What’s more, information submitted to EMAN can be used as an Import and Export Statement for the submission to the Office of Dutiable Commodities Administration of C&ED (as long as the information contained in the manifest is deemed sufficient by C&ED Commissioner). Carriers are able to save the extra effort in preparing a separate set of import and export paper statements - typical of the numerous spin-off benefits generated by EMAN.

And it’s also just the beginning of the major benefits to the user.

The labour saving is nothing less than remarkable. By using EMAN, carriers can file their manifests on screen 24 hours a day, 7 days a week without moving from their desks. There’s no longer any need to have an employee running around town to physically deliver the pages of a paper manifest to various government departments- and consider that there’s nearly 20 pages in the average manifest! Instead, as the employee types in the information and submits it, the system automatically checks each entry against a standard format and the basic information requirements of the Hong Kong government. In cases where the submission fails to fulfill all these requirements, an error message requesting a re-submission is sent to the carrier. When all is okay and the manifest has been passed to the three departments, the EMAN system automatically sends out an acknowledgement message to the carrier.

According to Tina Tam, procedures that traditionally had been taking three to four days to complete now only take half a day. For Golden Fame, that translated into a massive saving in time and manpower: the company specializes in container shipping and multi-modal transportation with six major lines running between Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta region, has a volume of 120,000 TEU per year, and submits around 12 to 13 manifests a day. With each manifest requiring three copies for three different government departments, a designated staff member needed to spend long periods of time on the photocopier just to prepare the sets of documents, then carry up to 780 pages to different locations every day. Worse still, says Ms Tam, “If something in the manifest was wrongly filled, my staff member would need to come back to the office to have it corrected before going back to the particular department for re-submission. I don’t want to see my staff doing the painstaking job of carrying heavy piles of papers from one government department to another every day.” The problem of having errors in submissions was also reduced. Electronic submissions using a standardized format avoid the ambiguities often encountered through the use of phone, fax and mail - and the need for staff to guess their way through “personally stylish” handwriting. They’re not only faster and more efficient, they’re also more accurate.

Extra value, extra benefits

Has all this led to job losses? After adopting EMAN, the number of staff at Golden Fame responsible for filing manifests remains the same, but each one of them is now able to accept other tasks and responsibilities - which has had a very positive effect on staff morale.

Then there’s the matter of reducing the use of paper - which also has more benefits then those that are immediately obvious, such as cost. Ms Tam quickly draws attention to the environmental gains, but also refers to the saving of office space. “The government requires us to store manifests for seven years. It was once quite a headache to find the space for all these documents. That’s now a thing of the past.”

She also believes having an office with less paper flowing around or piling up in the corners creates a better working atmosphere and a more positive working environment. When the need to retrieve old data arises, they no longer have the pain of diving into loads of dusty old paper: it now takes just a few clicks on the keyboard to get what’s required. An extra benefit here: old data can also be reused when filling in new manifests for regular customers.

Isn’t security and system stability a worry when you’re dependent on electronic filing? No, Ms Tam says, because copies of all manifests are backed up at Tradelink’s servers.

Fast forward

Two of the major concerns expressed by businesses considering EMAN are installation and teaching staff how to use it. Many of the more traditional business managers in Hong Kong are intimidated by information technology, and regard the whole process of installing new systems as expensive, time consuming and fraught with problems. Tina Tam says her experience with EMAN at Golden Fame was completely the opposite, and she found putting the whole idea into practice a satisfying experience. She recalls no glitches during the implementation process. “It was all very convenient as Tradelink’s system was able to match our in-house shipping system. Tradelink gave our staff training lessons, and then we were all set. Our staff have found the EMAN user-friendly as well.” Ms Tam is generous in her praise for Tradelink’s customer service executives, saying they were helpful, responsive and proactive. She has also been impressed by the thoroughness of the organization and the attention to detail - including contingency measures even for problems that are unseen or unexpected. For example, problems with the carrier’s own Internet connection are taken care of very quickly: in case of an emergency, Tradelink simply provides an internet service provider (ISP) account for carriers to use on a temporary basis. The company also has Disaster Recovery measures that enable on line services to be resumed within four hours.

”But Tradelink’s system has in fact been impressively stable,” she says. “I don’t recall any major outage during the time we have been using it.” In the near future, Tina Tam is hoping Tradelink will expand the function of their system to allow filing of statements that involve transshipment licenses and permits, but is quick to point out that she finds the current EMAN system worthy of compliment and support.

“I hope the whole industry itself will promote the use of EMAN more vigorously,” she says. “It is undoubtedly advantageous to us all. The benefits are all there and the results are immediate.”