Last week, the first shipment of flower bulbs, including export certification, was sent entirely paperless and accepted by the UK. This is a first for the bulb sector. Onings from Poeldijk is the trading company that achieved this with the help of the Chain Register. To celebrate this milestone, Royal Anthos delivered a cake with the eCert logo to the company.
The transaction is a result of the 'Paperless to the UK' pilot to fully digitize the traffic of flower bulbs to the UK. The application and phytosanitary release in the UK were entirely based on the electronic message between eCertNL and its UK counterpart. The eCertNL team and the British DEFRA have worked hard to make this possible.
Continuing the journey
Mark-Jan Terwindt, general manager of Anthos, is pleased with the milestone. “This step shows that all chain parties, including trade and governments, can effectively digitize the trade chain together,” says Terwindt, who is already looking ahead. “Faster, simpler, and with fewer errors are the motivation to continue implementing the digital method. We wish everyone a speedy continuation and aim to continue this journey with other trading companies by 2024.” Onings is certainly satisfied with how the pilot has gone and wants to roll out the method for all shipments to the UK. With an annual export of nearly 850 million bulbs, the UK is one of the Netherlands' largest markets.
source: Royal Athos