Nitron Group LLC, a global leader of fertilizer trade, and Secro, the next-generation digital bill of lading platform, announces that they have successfully completed the first end-to-end transaction in the world without a private rulebook agreement between participants. This delivered unprecedented speed of execution and legal robustness.

Lack of widespread recognition at country-level and necessity to sign cumbersome private agreements have so far hampered the widespread use of electronic bills of lading. Secro solves these problems with an innovative approach and proprietary technology that gained IGP&I approval and fast adoption from customers.

Nitron Group used Secro to carry out a buy-sell transaction involving six counterparties located across three continents. The trade involved a shipment of liquid fertilizer from North America to Chile, managed through agents at both load port and discharge port. Thanks to its multi-jurisdictional legal validity and the flexibility of its collaborative environment, Secro made the replacement of paper bills of lading seamless and robust. Secro enabled the buyer to obtain the possession of cargo much quicker than usual. The buyer received a signed original eBL in less than a minute after the transfer was initiated.

The onboarding of all the trading partners, the training of the users and the legal clearance from each corporate counsel took just a week. Secro empowered all parties in the transaction to securely draft online, negotiate in real time, e-sign, and digitally interchange the electronic bill of lading within hours.

Secro enables the easy export proof of original documents, the attachment of supporting files to the e-bill of lading and conversion of the latter into paper form, smoothly satisfying the bank’s compliance prerequisites and local customs requirements.

“The simplicity of the sign-up process and intuitiveness of the platform allowed for a seamless on-boarding experience and easy adoption,” said Felix, Dostmann, VP Project Management at Nitron. “Thanks to Secro we can save a substantial amount of working capital days and reduce the risk of our operations.”

“The idea that e-bills of lading need to be approved in 200 countries to work is a wrong assumption. With force of law across multiple jurisdictions and no private agreements, Secro creates new opportunities for traders and their customers to improve their bottom line up to 10%,” says Michele Sancricca, CEO and Co-founder of Secro. “Our sophisticated tokenization of assets makes Secro particularly suitable to also fulfill a banks’ need for a scalable and more secure alternative to paper documents and legacy e-bills of lading.”

The Jumbo-SAL-Alliance has commenced its scope of work in the Basrah Refinery Upgrading  Project for JGC Corporation. It is one of the largest projects ever undertaken by the Alliance. The Jumbo Javelin loaded the first of 19 transports at Dahej India.

Dedicated vessels

The project will see the Jumbo-SAL-Alliance undertake the transportation of a total of 450,000 freight of cargo for its client. Jumbo Kinetic, with two 1,500 t cranes, and SAL Heavy Lift’s MV Svenja, with two 1,000 t cranes will be dedicated to the project for the duration of the transportation scope.

During this time, the two vessels will undertake seven voyages each, providing the project with full flexibility and control of logistics. Sailing schedules are firmly fixed so that all parties within the logistical cycle know well in advance when which cargo will be collected and delivered.

The two vessels, with deadweight tonnage of 14,000 t and 12,500 t respectively, are strong enough to handle all modules and small enough to be able to access the restricted Morimatsu plant in Nantong, China, where much of the cargo will be loaded.

Stronger together

In addition to the two vessels committed to the project, the Jumbo-SAL-Alliance will provide vessels to conduct additional five voyages. With its combined fleet of thirty vessels, the Alliance can offer JGC a vessel with the required capabilities and service level each time, while also ensuring its ability to continue to serve other clients.

Mr. Kiharu Yamashita, Project Logistics Manager of Basrah Project, JGC explained: “Having the two dedicated vessels for the duration of this phase gives us visibility, ensuring that we can remain on schedule. Jumbo-SAL-Alliance who can accommodate the size and capability required for this project is indispensable for the successful delivery of the project to our client.”

Conducting consecutive runs, the Jumbo-SAL-Alliance will transport a range of items from locations in India, China, Thailand, and Korea. Amongst the cargo will be 80 modules. Here, the Alliance will draw upon its experience of using module lifting frames.

This will be applied by using JGC’s in-house designed frame, which is specially developed for lifting modules at the Morimatsu facility. The shipments will also include transportation of 31 pieces of equipment including a regenerator, vacuum columns, a fractionator, and seven 800 t bullet tanks, each one 82 m in length.

Total project focus

The Jumbo-SAL-Alliance began preparations for the project back in 2019, with the provision of engineering support. This included the design of four different loading spread mats,covering the various vessel types to be used, cargo footprint and location of the cargo on the vessel.

As the project is undertaken in consecutive runs with the same vessels, the load-spreading material can be recycled (re-used) each time, offering optimal cost-efficiency.

Laurens Govers, Commercial Manager at Jumbo-SAL-Alliance: “In every project that we undertake we consider not only the costs of transportation, but also the total project cost. With this project, our early involvement played a considerable role in this. We were able to work along with the client in tweaking the sailing schedule and suitable vessel rotations to match the vessels and maximise efficiency.”

Preparations for the project included the creation of a hybrid contract servicing the needs of both parties and tackling the potential challenges of operating in the Basrah region. As this is still considered a hostile environment, the two companies had a particularly keen focus on safety.

With the performance of the main logistical scope for the Basrah project, the Jumbo-SAL- Alliance is showcasing its ability to act as a full-service logistical provider for complex and larger project scopes. Supported by solid in-house engineering, project management, live QHSE procedures and protocols and, above all, experienced crew, the Alliance aims to ensure that cargo is handled, and sea fastened for safe delivery, on time and on budget. Building the future

JGC is carrying out an EPC scope in the refinery upgrading project on behalf of the South Refineries Company, an energy company under the Iraq Ministry of Oil. JGC’s scope includes  construction of a fluid catalytic cracking unit (34,500 bpd capacity), a vacuum distillation unit (55,000 bpd) and a diesel desulfurization unit (40,000 bpd).

The new facility will be located adjacent to the current Basrah refinery and will provide plant facilities that meet the international environmental standards.  Funds for the project have been provided by a loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). It is the largest Japanese assisted reconstruction project since the 2003 Iraq War. For JGC Group, it is the second project in the country since their completion of a power plant reconstruction in 2013.

The upgraded refinery will help to close a supply-demand gap for Petroleum products in Iraq, reducing the country’s dependence on imports. It will also contribute to reconstruction and economic growth, not least in the creation of several thousand jobs both for the construction and operation of the refinery.

V.O. Chidambaranar Port has surpassed the cargo handling target of 36 Million Tonnes, set by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, 17 days ahead in this financial year 2022-23. The Port has handed 36.03 Million Tonnes of cargo, this financial year, upto 14.03.2023 and has achieved a Y-o-Y growth of 11.35%, despite disruptions in global supply chain.

The major commodities that have witnessed considerable growth are Construction Material (67.41%), Thermal Coal (NTPL) ( 63.16% ), Lime Stone ( 51.72% ), Sulphuric Acid ( 37.34% ), Palm Oil ( 35.55% ), Industrial Coal ( 25.08% ), Thermal Coal (TNEB) ( 12.80%).

The major factors that have contributed to the increased cargo handling activity are Bulk cargo transhipment, implementation of Preferential Berthing Scheme, MoU based customer retention, attraction of Ad-hoc container mainline vessel calls, increased coastal movement of salt and implementation of Ease of Doing Business initiatives. Shri T.K. Ramachandran, IAS, Chairman, V.O. Chidambaranar Port Authority, remarked “The volumes are bouncing back in all forms of cargo, and I am confident that VOC Port will achieve greater milestones in the coming years. I congratulate the efforts of all the Employees, Trade Unions, Terminal operators, enterprising Port users and Stakeholders for this noteworthy achievement and thank them for their unstinted support
for the growth and development of the Port”.