For the first time, completely paperless flower bulbs have been exported to the UK. The scoop for Onings, a trading company in Poeldijk, South Holland. It is part of a milestone ‘Paperless to UK’ pilot aimed at making the transport of flower bulbs to the United Kingdom completely digital.
Handelsbedrijf Onings has achieved completely paperless processing with the help of the chain register. Application and phytosanitary issuance in the United Kingdom is based on an electronic message between eCertNL and its affiliate in the United Kingdom. The eCertNL team and the British Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) have been working on this possibility in recent months.
With annual exports of nearly 850 million flower bulbs, the United Kingdom is one of the Netherlands’ largest sales markets. That’s the reason for starting the pilot. Poeldijk’s trading company is satisfied with how this first shipment went. The plan is now to release the system for all exports to the United Kingdom.
According to Mark-Jan Terwindt, General Manager of Royal Anthos, the move also shows that all chain parties, including businesses and governments, can work together to effectively digitize the trade chain. ‘Faster, simpler and fewer errors are driving further implementation of digital workflows. A quick follow-up to all and we look forward to continuing this journey with other businesses in 2024.’
