In early 2020, a memorandum of cooperation was signed between various stakeholders to digitize the transport of bulk materials in Estonia. One of the parties was also the Transport Administration, which has been organizing procurements since 2020, where using e-waybills is mandatory for all performed transports. According to the memorandum of cooperation, Transport Administration planned to shift all its procurements to digital waybills by 2022.
One of these pilot projects was the reconstruction of state road no. 11412 Liikva-Rannamõisa km 0.0–5,156. The tender was won by TREV-2 Group and work began in August 2020. More than 2,000 loads of material were transported for road construction with e-waybills.
TREV-2 Group chose Waybiller
TREV-2 Group decided to partner with Waybiller – the most user-friendly e-waybill information system in Estonia. Waybiller has both web-based and iOS and Android applications for the drivers, which makes creating e-waybills extremely easy and convenient for drivers.
We talked to Alan Muruväli from TREV-2 Group, who was the project manager of the Liikva-Rannamõisa road construction. We wanted to know how the introduction of e-waybills went, what could improve in the future and what are their plans for the coming years.
How do you rate the use of the e-waybill compared to the paper waybill?
The introduction of e-waybills may seem very complicated and time-consuming at first, but fortunately, this is not the case at all – it’s actually easier to use than one might expect.
Does the use of e-waybills save time in compiling and verifying reports?
Yes! Thanks to e-waybills, it’s much easier to check the material quantities and vehicles on a daily basis.
Does the e-waybill give you a better overview of the amount of material brought to the object, both in real-time and historically?
The e-waybill gives you the possibility to check each load immediately and separately. There’s no need to sign the waybill by hand and check the load capacity of the machines. The site manager sees in real-time whether the truck has reached the load or what material is currently on the way.
How has the training process for employees/subcontractors gone?
Training subcontractors and requiring the use of e-waybills takes time, as changing the habits of some one-man companies and older drivers can make them reluctant. However, if they’ve already created an e-waybill a few times, they’ve gotten used to it. It also takes time to train your team, create new objects and starting points, add materials to the starting points and determine their locations.
What is the time gained in sending delivery notes to the supervisory authorities?
Most time is gained from immediately knowing the amount of material that arrives at the site and not needing to calculate it manually. Another great benefit is the fact that the freight company submits a Waybiller report with an invoice and it’s no longer necessary to recalculate it.
Do you think TREV-2 will go 100% on digital waybills? What could be the biggest obstacles to the transition? By what point could the transition be over?
True 100% deployment is not yet possible. The pilot project showed that not all drivers are yet ready to use the e-waybill – mainly because they have keypad phones or are an older generation that is not used to rapid innovation. In some areas, the lack of mobile connection also hampered the creation of an e-waybill. Another error that occurred in the pilot project was that drivers chose the wrong starting point, material or quantity, which caused some confusion.
However, TREV-2 is moving 100% towards e-waybills, but a full transition is likely to take a few more years.
When will e-waybills become mandatory in Estonia?
It’s good to see that the e-waybill pilot projects organized by the Transport Administration in 2020, 2021 and 2022 can be considered very successful. Feedback from road builders, the Transport Administration and site supervision has been extremely positive. Pilot projects have identified bottlenecks and helped make the Waybiller e-waybill information system better for users. In addition, they’ve been reassuring us that the e-waybill will really help to make the sector more efficient and also more transparent.
In order to stay on schedule for the memorandum of cooperation, significantly more similar procurements are expected in the coming seasons, where the use of digital waybills is mandatory. If you’re a road builder or a transport company transporting materials to the objects of the Transport Administration, then it’s the right time to get acquainted with the e-waybills and do the first test freights!
If you also want to use electronic waybills in your company, feel free to contact the Waybiller team by e-mail at support@waybiller.com or by phone at +372 606 8120.
We can help you replace paper waybills in your company with fully digital waybills and interface Waybiller with your accounting software.
