BECCA – first regional electronic maritime freight exchange

2014 November 1: Members of the Port Management Association of the Caribbean (PMAC) now have privileged access to the BECCA platform, the first electronic maritime freight exchange for the Caribbean and Latin America.

This access, one of the clauses in a memorandum of understanding signed by PMAC and CEI.BA during the association’s 17th Annual General Meeting and Conference held in St. Maarten last June 2014. PMAC’s chairman, Lenius Lendor signed for the Association while Christophe Foucault signed for CEI.BA.

BECCA, an ambitious and innovative concept being implemented by the CEI.BA team since 2009, is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund) through the INTERREG programme managed by the Guadeloupe Regional Council.

The BECCA platform facilitates reduced transportation costs for importers and exporters and boosts competitiveness and profitability of maritime stakeholders. The BECCA package includes two products: a maritime directory, which lists information about ports, maritime services, vessel operators and, a freight and transport exchange platform. It allows quick identification of the best transport solutions available at any given time. At the same time, transport operators can indicate the availability of their vessels for freight or containers for consolidation.

BECCA has been creating a ready-access link between shippers and shipping and, under the signed agreement, PMAC members have a 12-month opportunity (from June 2014) to interact with the system and to gain discounted fees for client access.

PMAC AND CEI.BA AGREEMENT: Christophe Foucault, President of CEI.BA (l) and PMAC chairman, Lenius Lendor sign the agreement into existence on June 26, 2014 in  St. Maarten. Witnesses to the event (l – r) Sabine Bajazet, Communications and External Affairs Manager at CEI.BA (seated), Glenn Roach, Executive Secretary of PMAC, Bishen John,  Vice Chairman of PMAC; and Everton Walters CBE, (seated) PMAC Consultant.