GeTS launches trade platform to accelerate global trade connectivity

Global eTrade Services (GeTS) has launched the world’s first trade platform to accelerate cross-border trade across the globe. The cloud service offering by GeTS, a subsidiary of CrimsonLogic, aims to power trade connectivity and the efficient fulfilment of trade compliance requirements.

Dr Koh Poh Koon, Senior Minister of State for the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Singapore, said the outlook for global trade is bright. Speaking at the launch of the platform he said, “Global cross-border trade has grown rapidly over the years. With the progressive reduction in trade tariffs, global trade has more than doubled from US$6.5 trillion in 2000 to US$16.6 trillion in 2015. Despite recent uncertainties arising from protectionist sentiments and economic headwinds, global trade is not expected to dampen significantly. Driven by an overall improvement in economic outlook, coupled with strong fundamentals in Asia, global trade growth is expected to pick up in the years ahead.”

Dr Koh added that Southeast Asia is poised to be one of the world's fastest-growing regions for e-commerce trade. “Industry experts have estimated that Southeast Asia's e-commerce market will surpass US$25 billion in revenue by 2020, more than double the total revenue in 2015,” he said.

“The development of e-commerce trade is expected to shape the nature of global trade and delivery patterns. The growth in e-commerce trade has been accompanied by an increase in a large number of smaller and lower-valued consignments that require just-in-time delivery. Traditional manual documentation will become increasingly cumbersome and time-consuming for e-commerce traders, and could impede the flow of goods across borders.

"For regulatory agencies, the increased volume of trade documents for processing will create additional pressure on limited resources. Therefore, to support the growth of e-commerce trade, it is important for us to have the right infrastructure that can ensure reliable, efficient and speedy customs clearance, while ensuring compliance with various regulatory requirements.”

“CrimsonLogic built TradeNet, the world’s first single window system for Singapore in 1989. Since then, we have continued to innovate and develop other similar trade systems. With close to 30 years of experience working with governments in more than 23 countries, CrimsonLogic has been pivotal in enabling trade competitiveness. With GeTS, we will now be able to bring world-class quality, innovation and efficiency that can help local businesses grow globally,” said Eugene Wong, Chairman of CrimsonLogic and GeTS. CrimsonLogic is a provider of e-government products and services, based in Singapore.

GeTS will enable businesses and governments to simplify processes and accelerate cross-border connectivity, saving them as much as 15% of the value of traded goods. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimates that for every 1% reduction in global trade costs, global income could go up by US$40 billion. Other studies estimate that significant trade facilitation could increase global GDP by almost US$1 trillion*.

“Capitalising on our deep domain knowledge and expertise, the GeTS offering will accelerate cross-border trade across the region. We are looking to change the way trade compliance is done around the world; making cross-border trade more accessible, predictable and easier. Using natural language programming and machine learning for our services, we have already improved time savings by 60% and increased productivity by 1.5 times for our customers, with more than 11 million transactions annually,” said Chong Kok Keong, CEO at Global eTrade Services (GeTS), and Assistant CEO at CrimsonLogic.

"As global trade continues to grow, trade communities and businesses are acknowledging that there is a need for a platform that can accelerate the movement of goods across borders. A partnership signed today with the Singapore Logistics Association (SLA) will allow the community of ASEAN freight forwarders to access services from GeTS that will enable them to consolidate import and export, regulatory and compliance fulfilment activities for various countries on a single platform.

“We are looking forward to collaborating with GeTS in this endeavour. Logistics has evolved from just one mode of transport to integrated transport services, including supply chain management services. This trade facilitation platform will strengthen logistics and freight forwarding businesses' value proposition to our customers, as it enables us to assist our customers with a broader range of trade compliance matters. It also enhances our ability to offer services across the region and around the world more seamlessly, and benefit from productivity gains at the same time,” said Stanley Lim, Chairman, SLA.

Chong said that in the past one year GeTS has seen over 10 million transactions, connected 163,000 parties globally, and maintains 16 nodes linking East and West. Cargo worth US$800 billion has been processed via the system, equivalent to 500 million tonnes of goods. Companies currently using the platform include PT Electronic Data Interchange Indonesia, PT Schenker, and Navigator International Insurance Brokers China.

"We understand the data and system requirements of the jurisdiction and transform data in a way that makes sense to authorities and business," he said. GeTS’ suite of services helps global freight forwarders to meet regulatory and compliance requirements from government agencies and trade associations through:

▪ GeTS cross-border compliance services: powers data management and transformation for trade declarations, cargo manifests submissions, import/export permits applications, and electronic Certificate of Origin (eCO) applications to government agencies and trade associations globally. It also serves as a system of records for trade-related data and documents required for statutory compliance.

▪ GeTS e-advisory services: consolidates import and export regulatory and compliance-related knowledge bases for various countries onto a single platform. For example, Harmonised System (HS) code auto classification makes it easier for traders to identify the correct HS code for traded goods. It also assists traders to capitalise on various free trade agreements (FTAs) for import duty savings and other benefits.

▪ Other value added services: GeTS can integrate its service offerings with customers’ existing enterprise resource planning (ERP), fleet management solution (FMS), and transportation management solution (TMS) systems. It also provides customers real time visibility of the status of their regional or global trade related compliance activities.

In a demonstration at the launch, the company showed how manual entry of information and the need to refer to multiple sources of information can allow administrative procedures for import and export of goods. GeTS can automatically extract information from documents to complete electronic forms, making the same procedure an error-free one-click process. While businesses today often have to inform their partners after procedures are completed, GeTS can notify partners automatically.

Yigit Saricinar, GM, Airfreight, PT Schenker Petrolog Utama said: “Using GeTS' Cross Border Services enables us to speed up the customs declaration process by expediting the electronic transmission of shipment data required for customs declaration into Indonesia Customs, saving time and manpower, allowing us to better serve our customers.”

GeTS is looking to widen its portfolio beyond trade compliance and documentation services. Trade finance offerings and global logistics solutions are just some of the areas the company is currently exploring to further enhance its position as the global trade platform of the future.

"The enhanced connectivity through GeTS serves as a natural complement to our excellent physical infrastructure and logistics capabilities. We are ranked first in shipping, and ports and logistics, which is backed by our ease of doing business and efficient customs procedures,” added Dr Koh.

Minister Koh formally launches the GeTS service by using a wearable and gesturing to fill up the 'e' on the screen. Watch the Instavideo.

Loo Leong Seng, CTO, GeTS, said that initiatives for the financial year include connecting all the ASEAN countries, starting with Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. "They have seen this development that we have and they are coming on board. We are moving ahead, on track. Later we will move on to ASEAN plus 3 and plus 6," he said.

Loo added that a document pouch feature will automatically associate related documents, stapling them together electronically as it were, while a smart HS classification feature will leverage machine learning to transform goods descriptions into the eight to 10-digit HS codes based on historical data.

Loo discusses GeTS plans in the current financial year.

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The service prior to launch has been free but will be available on a subscription basis later in the year. It currently supports 16 different systems which the company calls 'nodes', mostly in Asia and the US, and 50 nodes will be supported in the next two years.

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