TradeFlow executes electronic Bill of Lading (eBL) for floating gasoil storage deal

The transaction, which took place on November 26th, follows NR Capital’s agreement earlier this year to partner with Bolero International, the premier trade finance digitisation expert. This allows NR Capital to leverage Bolero’s electronic Bill of Lading technology, enabling it to securely facilitate crucial investment support to companies in the bulk physical commodity markets around the world.

The transaction involved the NR Capital Trade Flow Fund buying gasoil diesel from its SME customer in storage on a large oil tanker. As part of the transaction, the SME customer digitised and transferred the title and other trade documents over to NR Capital using the Bolero solution, and upon receipt an investment was released to the SME customer. The SME customer will buy back the gasoil as it needs it for its business operations during the agreed investment period. This gives the SME customer much-needed balance sheet relief and business growth support.

Bolero’s Multi-Bank Trade Finance solution enables NR Capital to provide SME firms around the world with access to essential transaction support through its ability to invest in and interpose in physical commodity asset-backed transactions. This new capability delivers unrivalled scalability and security to NR Capital’s investor base and trading counterparts.

By utilising Bolero as its core registry of title and ownership via electronic Bills of Lading (eBL) management, NR Capital is also benefiting from all the immense gains in time and efficiency that flow from the use of electronic trade documents.

Tom James a co-founder and Chief Investment Officer/CEO of NR Capital, said: “We are very excited to have executed this world first eBL for gasoil floating storage. Using the electronic Bill of Lading and electronic document presentation capabilities of Bolero ensures our investors and the counterparties, whose transactions we invest in, benefit from lower costs, faster processing of transactions and tighter security than traditional paper methods. In gasoil storage transactions we are now able to sell back and transfer legal title for pre-agreed volumes securely and at the speed of light, saving many days of laborious paperwork via the old paper-based approach.”

John Collis a co-founder and Chief Legal Officer (CLO) of NR Capital, added: “Concluding the transaction digitally has meant increased efficiency, greater security and faster service for all the parties involved. Paper-based methods are responsible for major delays in the completion of transactions and documents can easily be modified or intercepted – that’s just not possible with eBL technology.”

Ian Kerr, CEO at Bolero International, commented: “We are delighted to be partnering with NR Capital to extend the reach of trade digitisation, supported by eBLs, to a wider community of trading organisations. This is a great example of technology being applied to deliver clear business benefits to SMEs that previously were only accessible by some of the world’s largest companies.”