The tracking of a consignment, goods or transport equipment is imperative to a success of a supply chain operation, accurate and timely status updates allow the Consignor and Consignee to plan and manage the flow and timing, identifying exceptions early on so that risk and disruption can be minimised. The status reporting processes can cover ad-hoc reporting (request) or contractual reporting (subscription).

The Equipment Status Report package includes the following elements:

• XSD Schema
• UML Diagram
• XLS Guideline Structure
• Spreadsheet
• HTML

The Consignment Status Report package includes the following elements:

• XSD Schema
• UML Diagram
• XLS Guideline Structure
• HTML

The surveys prepared by ESCWA targeting banks, firms and policy makers are aimed at gauging the conditions for trade financing in the region before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Waybill is the evidence of a contract between the Transport Service Buyer and the Transport Service Provider, it is usually issued on collection or receipt by the Transport Service Provider. The waybill is used as a document of title and to show who has the right of ownership of the goods being transported.

The waybill is a common term covering various terms used in different modes of transport, for example;
• Bill of Lading, Ocean Bill of Lading, or Sea Waybill is used in Sea freight
• Air Waybill or eAWB is used in Airfreight
• Consignment Note (CMR or eCMR) is used in Road
• Rail Transport Document CIM and SGMS are used in Rail

The Waybill package includes the following elements:

• XSD Schema
• UML Diagram
• XLS
• Spreadsheet
• HTML

The Shipping Instructions are variously known as Shipping Instructions, Forwarding Instructions, Shippers Letter of Instruction and would typically follow the Booking from the Transport Service Buyer to the Transport Service Provider as a pre-cursor to the issuing of a waybill which then acts as the evidence of the transport contract.

The Shipping Instructions package contains the following elements:

• XSD Schema
• UML Diagram
• XLS
• Spreadsheet
• HTML index

Bookings form an integral part of the ‘Buy-Ship-Pay’ model where the transportation of goods is not only using available capacity offered by a Transport Service Provider but binds the supply chain together with a Transport Plan. This provides multiple interested parties with the planned movements of a consignment journey from which the delivery of service can be executed and measured.

The Booking Standard Package package contains the following elements:

• XSD Schema
• UML Diagram
• XLS
• Spreadsheet
• HTML

The current practice of the exchange of electronic messages for transport and logistics using UN/EDIFACT has provided a trusted and stable environment to communicate efficiently between actors in the supply chain since its introduction in 1990. The ongoing digitalization of supply chains, introduction of IoT devices such as smart containers, eCMR, and adoption of data pipeline principles in the transport and logistics domain processes raises new data requirements and migration path between these UN/EDIFACT messages and the Multi Modal Transport Reference Data Model (MMT RDM) is a key move to support future requirements.

The International Forwarding and Transport package contains the following elements:

• XSD Schema
• UML Diagram
• XLS Guideline Structure
• Spreadsheet
• HTML

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a global health and economic crisis that has transformed the world.

The Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road (CMR) was developed in 1956. This convention standardizes contractual and carrier liability conditions of transporting goods by road in vehicles for reward if the origin and destination are in two different countries, and at least one of the countries is a contracting party. It has been acceded to by 55 states around the world, thus making the use of the CMR obligatory in these countries. In 1976, the International Road Union introduced a United Nations Layout Key aligned CMR Note template in cooperation with the International Chamber of Commerce. This road consignment note template was updated in 2007 and is now used by most, if not all, parties to contracts of carriage in CMR contracting countries.

Trade information portals (TIPs), sometimes also called National Trade Portals/Repositories (NTP/Rs), are websites where one can obtain information on laws, regulations and procedures that need to be followed when engaging in international trade. The information and services provided through TIPs have the potential to enhance regulatory transparency and greatly facilitate trade. While many countries already have some forms of TIPs, ensuring their effectiveness and sustainability often remains a challenge. The objective of this online course on enhancing TIPs is to provide a framework and guidelines for assessing the as-is conditions of a TIP and generating recommendations for its improvement.