Enables all shippers and forwarders to reach all carriers INTTRA has announced the launch of Universal Carrier Access (UCA), which will bring increased efficiencies for shippers, forwarders and all carriers around the world. With 22 of the world's largest ocean carriers connected to its network, INTTRA represents over 61 percent of the ocean freight capacity among the world's top carriers, and is the largest multi-carrier e-commerce platform for the ocean industry. INTTRA initiates more than 125,000 container orders each week and handles over $10 billion worth of freight each year, serving thousands of customers in more than 80 countries. UCA enables any INTTRA registered shipper or forwarder to transmit Shipping Instruction data to any carrier or NVO in the world, at no charge to either party. The launch of UCA follows a successful six-month pilot program, which incorporated over 50 carriers and their customers and was designed to leverage the INTTRA platform to reach all carriers using a single, standard process. 'Many shippers and forwarders are still sending transactions to carriers in a conventional way, via fax and manually keyed file attachments. UCA enables shippers and forwarders to send a Shipping Instruction using INTTRA's industry standard PDF format - a process that is significantly less likely to contain or result in errors compared with traditional methods,' said Yuji Furusawa, INTTRA's Director of Product Management. 'By providing a single process to transact with all carriers, INTTRA can provide additional operational efficiencies for shippers and forwarders in a way that has never before been offered to the industry,' said Michael Nielsen, INTTRA's SVP of Global Commercial Sales. 'In addition, UCA offers a great opportunity for carriers to experience the advantages of receiving documents electronically. We believe that once carriers have tried this service, they too will appreciate the benefits and opportunities created by the efficiencies of e-commerce. This is an exciting next step towards fulfilling INTTRA's mission of creating a common industry-wide portal that can benefit the whole shipping industry,' he added.