Friday, February 22, 2013

Survey: Shippers prefer electronic invoicing

A recent study surveying shippers and freight forwarders in the ocean shipping industry revealed an 81 percent preference for electronic invoicing among those queried.

According to the INTTRA study, e-invoicing has become a critical cost reduction tool for the industry that helps to offset high fuel costs, reduced funding, and decreasing global trade. It allows both shippers and carriers to improve efficiency and profits, INTTRA says, especially in terms of reducing and resolving payment disputes.

The survey found that 81 percent of the respondents want to receive electronic invoices in 2013, and 77 percent ranked "managing disputes" as their greatest invoicing challenge.

"Logistics providers and their ocean carriers can benefit from standardizing the (invoicing) process," said Otto Schacht, executive vice president of Sea Logistics at Kuehne + Nagel, "improving visibility to their cash liabilities and providing a more transparent invoicing process, all of which save time and resources."

The top 10 countries that expressed an e-invoicing preference included the U.S., UK, China, the Netherlands, Germany, Singapore, Australia, France, Hong Kong and Italy, the study said.

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