CARGOSMART SETS DEADLINE FOR POTENTIAL CARRIER INVESTORS

CARGOSMART SETS DEADLINE FOR POTENTIAL CARRIER INVESTORS    CargoSmart, the Internet shipping portal launched by Hong Kong-based Orient Overseas Container Line last October, said that it has asked five other shipping lines to decide about each taking equity shares in the portal of up to 20 percent by June 30.
   CargoSmart, now wholly-owned by OOCL, said that it has been talking about opening the portal to other carriers as users or investors. The architecture of the system was designed to support shipment transactions for multiple carriers, but the portal is currently used only by OOCL and its customers.
   Ken Chih, chief information officer of OOCL, said that opening the capital of the company is one option, but the company would also be satisfied if other shipping lines joined as users of the portal, rather than investors.
   Chih said that China Ocean Shipping Co. is one of the five potential carrier investors in CargoSmart, but would not name the others. They include carriers who have already joined the INTTRA and GT Nexus portals, he said.
   It isn’t clear whether such carriers would be able to invest in CargoSmart without breaking their earlier contractual agreements with the other portals. According to OOCL, membership of the INTTRA and GT Nexus is tied to exclusivity rules, and their carrier members cannot invest in other portals.
   If the five carriers decide not to buy shares in CargoSmart by the end of June, OOCL will increase the price per share, but keep the door open to the five carriers by giving them the option to buy 5 -percent shares in the company by June 2002. OOCL may also open the capital of CargoSmart to other types of investors, Chih said, adding that several banks have expressed an interest in shares in the company.
   In a separate development, Chih said that he favors common data standards among CargoSmart, INTTRA and GT Nexus. “We should have a common carrier interface and a common customer interface,” he said.
   But there will be a need in the industry for more than one portal, partly because of regulatory competition concerns and partly because of customer demand for choice, he said.