Technology is no longer the main barrier
On 30 July 2026, at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Center within VILOG 2026, the first ASEAN – Vietnam Logistics Forum took place under the theme “Digital Trade and eBL: Building Digital Trust for the Future of Global Supply Chains.”
According to the speakers, the bottleneck of digital trade is not just the existence of paper documents. The more fundamental issue is that trust is fragmented among parties, systems, and legal frameworks. A trusted digital trade ecosystem must ensure three layers of trust: identity, data, and transfer.
For bills of lading, a PDF sent by email cannot automatically be considered a negotiable electronic bill of lading. In the digital environment, the functions of a paper original must be replaced by verified identity, data integrity, sole control, electronic transfer mechanisms, and auditable transaction trails.
Interoperability matters more than the number of platforms
The development of eBL, eFBL, and digital document platforms shows that technology is no longer the only barrier. The bigger challenge is whether systems can understand, verify, and accept each other's data. If every shipping line, bank, port, or logistics company has a good platform but they are not interoperable, digital trade still cannot run smoothly.
Interoperability includes four elements: unified data content and structure; mechanisms for verifying identity and authority; secure, auditable data exchange processes; and legal recognition of cross-border documents.
ASEAN needs a common trust architecture
AFFA introduced a direction to build a trusted digital trade architecture for the ASEAN logistics community, connecting digital documents, multimodal transport, trusted identity, secure payments, real-time tracking, data security, and decision support. However, this initiative is still being proposed and refined, and has not yet been formally adopted by the entire AFFA.
An open, interoperable architecture would help lower the entry cost for small and medium enterprises, avoiding a new digital divide in ASEAN.
NCD expands the legal space
The UN Convention on Negotiable Cargo Documents (NCD) creates a legal framework for issuing and using NCDs in paper or electronic form, not limited to a single mode of transport. This expands the ability to represent and transfer rights over goods to road, rail, air, and multimodal transport.
An example cited at the forum: an eNCD was used for a multimodal shipment from Chongqing via Qinzhou to Hai Phong. However, the fact that a technical transaction can be performed does not mean all legal issues have been resolved.
Conditions for eBL and NCD to succeed
From the presentations and dialogues, several action directions can be drawn:
- Assess legal gaps by document function: issuance, verification, control, transfer, use as collateral, termination of validity, and dispute resolution.
- Design pilot programs on a specific trade corridor or cargo flow, with the participation of cargo owners, logistics companies, carriers, banks, and technology providers.
- Align data standards and interoperability principles before choosing platforms, avoiding dependence on a single vendor.
- Have a risk governance framework: cybersecurity, data protection, liability allocation, incident handling, insurance, and contingency plans.
- Measure success with business indicators: document issuance and circulation time, cargo release time, courier costs, data discrepancy rates, financing approval time, and partner acceptance.
The number of accounts opened on a platform or the number of electronic documents created cannot be the only measure.
Implications for Vietnamese businesses
The forum showed that the important question is no longer when paper documents will be replaced, but what mechanisms Vietnam and ASEAN will design so that identity, data, control, and legal liability are trusted across borders. Businesses need to follow the next steps on legal frameworks and pilot programs, as this will directly affect their transaction costs and time.