Shortfacts - May 2019

Digital freight documents

When trucks drive on the highways, they are not only transporting supplies for the supermarket or gearboxes for the car manufacturer, but also a thick pack of paper. This is because drivers still have to present accompanying freight documents or customs documents in analog form, sometimes requiring entire folders. The vast majority of companies that transport goods would like to change this. Nine out of ten companies say that it would help them if a digital version of freight documents were also legally recognized in the future. This is the result of a representative survey commissioned by the digital association Bitkom. In view of the digitalization of logistics, the obligation to carry freight documents on paper is an anachronism that is no longer comprehensible. According to the companies surveyed, paper documents cost companies and administrations time and money and are also a burden on the environment.