The Ministries of Transport from Latvia and Russia have endorsed an e-CMR pilot project between the two countries – as a first step towards a fully digital transport and transit system – during meetings today at the International Transport Forum annual summit in Leipzig. 

Gathering at a ministerial round table, the Russian Deputy Minister of Transport and the Latvian Minister of Transport agreed to run an e-CMR pilot project, with support from IRU, between their two countries. IRU President Christian Labrot congratulated the Latvian and Russian Ministers on the decision to forge ahead with e-CMR. 

He explained, “both industry and governments have shown considerable interest in e-CMR and several countries recently acceded to the e-CMR protocol and intend to implement it. We are pleased that the Russian and Latvian authorities are working rapidly to put into practice e-CMR with this pilot project as momentum gathers for its expansion.”

The CMR Convention and its electronic consignment note (e-CMR) is the official document on shipments between senders and transporters, providing an essential trail of the logistics transfer in relation to the load carried. With e-CMR, transport operators can input electronically, store logistics information and exchange data, in real time via a mobile phone or tablet. 

The e-CMR protocol entered into force on 5 June 2011, and to date the contracting parties are: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Republic of Moldova, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey.