Maersk, IBM start blockchain platform

TradeLens is designed to promote more efficient and secure global trade.    Danish shipping conglomerate A.P. Moller – Maersk and global technology company IBM on Thursday announced the launch of their jointly developed blockchain solution, TradeLens.
   Designed to promote more efficient and secure global trade, the platform brings together Maersk’s logistics expertise and IBM’s blockchain technologies and is supported by major industry players.
   The TradeLens solution is available today through the early adopter program and is expected to be fully commercially available by the end of this year.
   As part of the TradeLens early adopter program, a total of 94 organizations are actively involved or have agreed to participate on the platform.
   TradeLens allows multiple trading partners to collaborate by establishing a single shared view of a transaction without compromising details, privacy or confidentiality. Users can interact more efficiently through real-time access to shipping data and documents, including internet of things and sensor data, ranging from temperature control to container weight.
   Since announcing the jointly developed solution to digitize global trade in January and based on feedback from various members of the global supply chain ecosystem who would like to adopt the technology, the companies said they have modified the go to market model and will now deliver their solution through an extension of their pre-existing collaboration agreement instead of a joint venture.
   Maersk and IBM said they worked with dozens of ecosystem partners during a 12-month trial to identify opportunities to prevent delays caused by documentation errors, information delays, and other impediments. “One example demonstrated how TradeLens can reduce the transit time of a shipment of packaging materials to a production line in the United States by 40 percent, avoiding thousands of dollars in cost,” the companies said. “Through better visibility and more efficient means of communicating, some supply chain participants estimate they could reduce the steps taken to answer basic operational questions such as ‘where is my container’ from 10 steps and five people to, with TradeLens, one step and one person.”
   Commenting on joining the new platform, Karen Oldfield, president and chief executive officer of the Halifax Port Authority in eastern Canada said, “The timing couldn’t be better. Digitization is the efficiency vehicle for the global supply chain, and considerable work is being done in Halifax right now through the recently established Centre for Ocean Ventures and Entrepreneurship (COVE) and Volta Labs innovation hub. Through our involvement in TradeLens, we are taking the next steps to ensure the Port of Halifax is on the leading edge.”