Jet-Speed, a Hong Kong based Air Cargo forwarder, has signed up to bolero.net and will work with Otto Versand, the world's largest mail-order group, and UK customs on introducing bolero.net into shipments from Asia to the UK, it was announced in June.

Jet-Speed, established 1967, has become one of Hong Kong's largest locally owned freight forwarding companies, serving customers on all continents. The company offers high security cargo handling and consolidation services for shipments going through Asia. Jet-Speed is a full member of the World Air Cargo Organisation (WACO) and operates its services in conjunction with major European and Asian airlines. Jet-Speed has been an air freight partner of Otto Versand since 1980. Other Jet-Speed customers include Fujitsu-Siemens and Creative Labs.

According to bolero.net, the UN Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) has put the cost of international trade transactions to US$3bn a year. The UN estimates that these costs could be cut by 60% ($1.8bn), if businesses adopt more efficient ways of administering trade. Companies that have signed up to bolero.net include major banks, container shipping lines and a range of multinationals.

Jet-Speed will work with Otto-Versand subsidiaries Freemans and Grattans catalogues, as well as UK customs on introducing bolero.net on shipments from Hong Kong to the UK in July. Live transactions from Hong Kong to Otto Versand in Germany are additionally expected to take place later this year.

"With bolero.net you have a completely paperless trading environment", says Jet-Speed CEO Antonio da Silva. "With all the inefficiencies in world trade today, this is something businesses such as ourselves have been waiting 10 years for. bolero.net is an idea whose time has definitely come."

According to bolero.net commercial director Peter Scott. "Jet-Speed forms a vital link in the implementations about to take place from Asia to the UK. These live implementations mark a major step forward in our development as an international trading standard, as they involve the world's largest mail order group, as well as a Governmental agency in UK customs."

bolero.net was launched at the end of September 1999 by the logistics and banking communities, a global initiative to move trade onto the Internet. The Bolero System provides secure electronic transmission of business data and documents along the entire trade chain from front end order processing and management to backend trade document exchange. In December 2000, bolero.net successfully completed a US$50mn first round of funding.

Another logistics group, Danzas, signed up to bolero.net for airfreight last April. Danzas Group, a corporate division of Deutsche Post World Net will be the first part of the group to start introducing bolero.net throughout its intercontinental operations (air and ocean freight, project forwarding) that are being executed in the Intercontinental Business Unit of the Danzas Group called Danzas AEI Intercontinental.

"As a leading provider of IT-supported logistics solutions Danzas is taking an active role working on efficient customer orientated e-business solutions for order fulfilment covering the entire supply chain. It was therefore a natural fit for Danzas to introduce bolero.net into its operations," says Renato Chiavi, Head of Danzas AEI Intercontinental.

Other parts of Danzas' e-business programme include an expansion of its Internet service offerings. Services which have proved to be successful in different regions, such as Internet booking, personalized reporting and Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)-based information services, will be rolled out worldwide.