FIATA, the umbrella organization representing thousands of freight forwarders who serve as intermediaries between millions of shippers and numerous transportation operators, held its 2024 congress in Panama. The main agenda items included regional conflicts, political and financial sanctions, and the resulting security updates (such as ICS2, AEO, and AMS).

In today’s digitalized world, the increasing cross-border security requirements of government authorities and the resulting regulations reveal the infrastructure deficiencies of small and medium-sized freight forwarder companies. Without adequate digital infrastructure, these companies are compelled to use solutions offered by major air and sea transport operators to meet regulatory obligations. However, the fact that transportation and commercial data are concentrated in the hands of a few global companies poses risks to the supply chain and the public interest.

The "One Record" or single-window applications suggested by IATA may appear to provide a systematic structure, but they seem to lean toward monopolistic tendencies that limit diversity. Nonetheless, I value the efforts of DCSA and IATA as they play a crucial role in establishing industry standards. However, because of the vertical relationship nature of the sector, allowing association members to set all the rules can lead to reduced competition, the loss of trade secrets, and fractures in the supply chain. It remains unclear who orchestrated the cyber-attacks that impacted Maersk in 2017 and MSC in 2020, as well as what the full impact of these attacks was. For this reason, it would be incorrect to expect associations founded by large transportation operators, such as DCSA and IATA, to take on FIATA’s responsibilities.

FIATA, therefore, bears a greater responsibility at this point. To prevent the unilateral distortion of competition and to ensure secure data transfers, FIATA should lead the establishment of the necessary infrastructure and prioritize activities that will raise global public awareness.

First, we need to identify the basic and optional components of data exchange in transferable transport documents from a freight forwarder's perspective. Data security could be achieved through a structure similar to PEPPOL, and DCSA’s work could provide useful insights in this regard. We can use DCSA’s e-Bill of Lading standard by revising it from a freight forwarder’s perspective; this information is publicly available. Afterward, it is essential to increase the number and variety of reliable integrators to store this data and to define the basic functions of each integrator. The process itself is not complicated: the system creates the instruction and sends it to the integrator to forward to the intended recipient. The integrator transmits the data with a unique reference to the recipient’s integrator. The recipient retrieves this data from their integrator and sends a positive or negative response back to the sender within a specified timeframe. If no response is received or given, the message should be considered absent, and commercial intervention would be unnecessary. If a response is given and an issue arises later, the records are deemed correct.

I would like to demonstrate that this system is possible and can be adapted to benefit the sector, using Turkey as an example. Since the inception of the e-invoice application in 2004, the number of participating companies in Turkey has exceeded half a million as of 2024. Each company can exchange data with others through one of the more than 200 licensed integrators under specific conditions. The widespread use of the e-invoice application has resolved data transfer and verification issues in Turkey and completely addresses concerns such as “Is the invoice incorrect?”, “Did it go through?”, “Was it approved?” or “Was it processed correctly?”

The last World Freight Forwarder Congress (WFC) gave me hope. Ms. Kerstin Strauss’s speech was particularly bold and impressive. Additionally, as highlighted by some panelists at the FIATA congress, SaaS applications like Shiptier, CargoWise, CargoX, and EdiData can empower freight forwarders and bridge gaps without incurring significant costs. Let’s remember that freight forwarders are the backbone of the diversity we need in the supply chain.

In the next stage, security could be achieved using blockchain technology through a broad consensus that includes FIATA, FMC, DCSA, IATA, WTO, and the European Commission as stakeholders. However, I am not yet convinced that this technology will be the first viable solution.