BOLERO LINKS FOR COFFEE TRADING CHAIN

BOLERO LINKS FOR COFFEE TRADING CHAIN    The National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia, U.K.-based coffee importer A. J. Ridge & Breminer, P&O Nedlloyd and banks have implemented and used the Bolero trade documentation system across an entire trade chain for coffee shipments.
   The live test concerned a consignment of 17.5 tons of arabica coffee shipped on a P&O Nedlloyd vessel from the port of Cartagena, Colombia, to Felixstowe in the U.K.
   Other parties in the trade chain included the coffee importer’s bank, NatWest, and the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia’s bank, Chase Manhattan Bank.
   The National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia completed its first live export transaction across the Bolero system five weeks after joining the bolero.net system.
   Jorge C'rdenas, general manager of the Colombian coffee federation, said that bolero.net “has proven to be a very reliable system, not only for its high privacy standards, but specially for its legal infrastructure which allows the exchange of shipping documents and business information securely with our customers worldwide.”
   C'rdenas added that his organization will soon “be able to obtain logistics and commercial information instantaneously.”
   A spokesman for P&O Nedlloyd said that end-to-end automation of bolero.net transactions is “some way away,” but the initial findings are encouraging.
   P&O Nedlloyd is seeking to enhance its service by using technological innovation to    support its customers’ business and the company is reviewing the implications of the bolero.net transaction, the spokesman added.