The trade and transportation industries have experienced unprecedented change in the last decade. The advance of information technology has enabled these industries to lower their costs and dramatically improve their operating efficiencies and optimize their business processes and procedures. The convergence of technology and supply-chain operations has created new business models, new markets and new breeds of service providers and customers.

"We are now in the age of digital trade and transportation!" is the message being proclaimed loudly by IT visionaries and experienced logistics professionals alike. So great are the changes and improvements, they say, that embracing these new technologies and business strategies is absolutely essential for any company that wants to remain competitive and successful in the global marketplace. "It's no longer a matter of being a smart decision," commented one industry observer. "At the basic management level, it's becoming a matter of do - or die!"

The advice of these experts has certainly not gone unheeded in the local trading community. A major turning point - perhaps one of the major milestones in the history of Hong Kong trade - was the launch earlier this year of the Digital Trade and Transportation Network (DTTN). Already many companies have readily subscribed to its innovative, effective services.

The DTTN platform provides a new and vastly improved way of doing transactions online. It provides a common, easy, interconnection for the trade, logistics and finance industries, facilitating fast, smooth information flow and enhancing efficiency. By centralizing, consolidating and managing a defined set of digital communication standards and protocols for both technology and messaging, the DTTN offers significant gains in efficiency for all users across the entire trade and logistics sectors. DTTN also effectively shields stakeholders in the trade and logistics sectors from the effects of frequent changes in standards and protocols, thereby reducing the in-house resources required to require to cope with those upgrades.

Justin Yue, Chairman of Digital Trade and Transportation Network Limited (DTTNCo), said, "DTTN is more than just a network for different business sectors. It's a platform where all the information relating to the supply chain can be more efficiently handled so that the movement of goods can flow smoothly and accurately."

In December of last year, in preparation for the launch of their revolutionary e-commerce platform, DTTNCo implemented a pilot scheme and invited interested companies to participate. One of the first big names to participate in the pilot scheme was British-based logistics company Exel, now known as DHL Global Forwarding (DGF), a global market leader in the industry. They specialize in providing innovative and customized solutions from a single source, and serve 75% of the world's largest non-financial companies - including corporations involved in manufacturing, health care, chemicals, automobiles, high technology and a vast range of consumer retail products. Because of this huge, diverse client base, DGF has always been faced with the problem of having to translate or re-key external data into their own computer systems so that the information can pass through for efficient and accurate backend processing. DGF expects that the automation of handling payments and order processing made possible through the DTTN will enhance operational efficiency and bring improved customer satisfaction.

Another early mover was the TAL Group, one of the world's largest apparel producers whose clients include Ralph Lauren, DKNY, Eddie Bauer, Talbots, Jos A Bank and Nordstrom.

"Achieving advantages in supply chain efficiency is one of the goals we've been working on for many years, both upstream and downstream," said Dr. Harry Lee, managing director of TAL Apparel Limited. "The DTTN makes it much easier for companies such as ours to exchange documents with shipping companies, the government and insurance companies."

Like DGF, TAL already enjoys the benefits of reduced operational costs through the replacement of resource-intensive tasks (e.g. data entry and courier) by using an automated electronic communication system.

DTTN has also attracted customers from the banking industry. The Bank of East Asia (BEA) is the largest independent local bank in Hong Kong, with total consolidated assets of HKD263.3 billion (USD 33.91 billion) as of 30 June, 2006. In Hong Kong, BEA now operates over 110 branches and SupremeGold Centres, and employs more than 3,500 staff. Besides providing these banking and financial services to individual customers and businesses in Hong Kong, BEA operates an extensive network throughout Greater China and overseas.

The BEA Internet Banking team was deeply impressed by DTTN's capability to automate payment handling and trade finance orders, and to make the status of a customer's transaction available online. The team was well aware that these services would improve customer satisfaction - and would be of considerable value to any customer's business. Recognizing the values of DTTN, BEA is now making its online payment service available through the DTTN platform.

While loccally, the DTTN is steadily building a critical mass of customers, the development of the whole system is progressing. Some of the more dramatic developments are happening on a global scale, and all users of the DTTN, existing and new, will benefit immensely in the near future.

In an interview last year, Mr. Yue said, "In a couple of years there will be similar DTTN platforms in other countries. This will enable us to communicate - to "talk to each other' - with our transactions and our documents. Something like a mega DTTN would be able to serve the world." At that time Mr. Yue may have sounded a little optimistic as Hong Kong had yet to start the pilot of the DTTN platform - which was the first of its kind in the world. But by mid-2006, to the amazement of the industry, digital trade platforms similar to the DTTN started emerging in various parts of the world.

If - and more likely it's "when" - these digital trade platforms start "talking to each other," they'll make it possible for customers and service providers of the supply chains, physically separated by their respective national borders and thousands of kilometers apart, to exchange documents and handle transactions online. This will definitely be a great leap forward for global commerce, an improved business process with unprecedented supply-chain efficiencies and new ways of implementing business strategies that have never been seen before.
Included in the group of countries which are either building a platform similar to the DTTN, or already have something which is up-and-running, are Singapore, Australia, Spain and Mexico.

TradeXchange of Singapore

Leading IT solutions provider, CrimsonLogic, has been commissioned by the Singapore government to develop and operate a new national IT platform for trade and logistics. As Singapore continues to increase its competitiveness as a trade and logistics hub, and strives to maintain its position as a top trading nation, this new IT system, TradeXchange, will facilitate the flow of goods in and out of Singapore by enabling a quick, easy exchange of information amongst commercial entities and government agencies. TradeXchange is being designed to provide a single interface through which users can access these big, essential systems, enter the required data only once, and conveniently route it to the relevant parties.

Expected to complete by October 2007, TradeXchange will support an estimated 90,000 registered traders in Singapore. Like the DTTN of Hong Kong, it will offer many benefits, including time saving, smoother information flows and the elimination of errors caused by data re-entry. The overall result will be significant gains in productivity and efficiency.

Telstra BPX of Australia

Telstra Australia is the 14th largest telecommunications company in the world, and as one might expect from a global giant their Business Process eXchange (BPX) is a "next-generation" hosted messaging platform which offers a comprehensive transaction delivery and transformation service for businesses. A world-class infrastructure, its large multi-server architecture is sized for worldwide transaction volumes, is fully redundant and scalable, and offers high-performance levels, multi-layered security and ready availability. Technically, it simultaneously hosts community hubs (linking multiple trading partners) and gateways (linking the systems of an organisation with their trading partners and community hubs). It has many powerful key features, including:

• A document and message exchange service
• Support for all major formats, protocols and standards
• Enables any-to-any transformation; authentication; reliable messaging etc.
• Securely handles business transactions and processes of customers
• Enables the dynamic configuration and testing of transactions

Telstra launched its BPX commercially in July 2005, just a few months before Hong Kong piloted its DTTN system. Its architecture and functions have many similarities with the DTTN, so the potential is there for Hong Kong and Australia to jump-start the formation of a mega DTTN.

Port Authority of Valencia of Spain

The Port Authority of Valencia (PAV) of Spain has been at the forefront in using IT to create management systems which can quickly handle the vast amounts of information produced and interchanged at the port. After establishing an EDI system in customs management, a dangerous goods management system on the port premises, a comprehensive system to manage a vessel's stopover, and the "paper-free cargo withdrawal" system, PAV developed the valenciaportpcs.net, which has functions similar to the DTTN. The objective is to provide greater benefits for the port community, including:

• More efficient transactions (up to 50% cost savings)
• Easier access to integrated logistics information - maritime, port and land
• Modernization of logistics management
• Throughput of greater volumes of cargo
• A boost to the region's competitiveness
• Greater contact with society as a whole

Valenciaportpcs.net is integrated into INTTRA and GT Nexus, the two technological platforms that bring together the world's main shipping lines, and this gives users access to these platforms via a single point, which immediately enhances the service operations of most shipping companies operating in Valencia.

Scoex CeNel of Mexico

Scoex of Mexico has recognized a need to provide both international corporations and small-to-medium sized companies with a cost-effective international procurement service. Their goal is to establish a single, nation-wide window for international trade that enables importers, exporters, chambers, logistics, transport operators, cargo, customs agents and other productive sectors, to access and share common business documents. The commercial name of the platform being planned is International eBusiness Center (CeNel). When it's launched, the services will be provided through various chambers of commerce acting as distributors to the end users.

Other countries which are in various stages of developing platforms similar to the DTTN are Korea, Thailand, China (Ningbo port) and France.

When speaking of the development of the DTTN in Hong Kong, and the future of a mega DTTN, Mr. Yue is now more upbeat than ever about how these systems will soon be able to "talk to each other" to add value for all customers.

"If everyone could cover the same 80 to 100 documents, if all the different platforms can also accommodate and support different standards - then it stands to reason they can also talk to each other and exchange documents, from one platform to another. Ultimately, we can create more value for ourselves in Hong Kong if we are a pioneering part of this mega DTTN, "said Mr. Yue.