The Hong Kong Shippers’ Council ran a second survey of trade organisations on the use of electronic terminal receipts that is offered by the company, OnePort. Those surveyed included members of the Federation of Hong Kong Industries, the Hong Kong Shippers’ Council, the Hong Kong exporters’ Association, the Textile Council of Hong Kong, and the Textile and Garment Information Centre.

Over 70% of those surveyed said they are using eTR, either for all shipments or just partially. Nearly 30% said they have never used eTR.? Those who use eTR do so primarily because it is a requirement of their freight forwarder (52%) and of their shipping company (40%). Only 7.4% are using it as their own choice.

While most respondents (58.5%) are aware that most shipping companies/freight forwarders do accept a Letter of Indemnity in exchange for the Bill of Lading, instead of eTR, a good number (41.5%) are not aware of this fact.

One of the main complaints in using the eTR service offered by OnePort, is the system’s instability. Indeed, respondents to the survey not only checked the boxes showing where inefficiencies of the service lie, but many chose to add their comments.? The top complaint is a pretty obvious defect which should be addressed as a priority since the service is new—nearly 34% said telephone enquiries and back-up service are the worst of OnePort’s eTR service. The second top complaint (30%) involved the transmission of documents to and from the freight forwarder and onto OnePort. ?The third top complaint is on the transmission of documents to and from the shipping company and onto OnePort.

Over 55% of the respondents said they are unsatisfied with the ETR service of OnePort. There was overwhelming response (79%) saying they would stop using OnePort eTR if they started charging for the service.