Hapag-Lloyd and Ocean Network Express (ONE) announced that they are joining the blockchain-enabled digital shipping platform, TradeLens. TradeLens was jointly developed by A.P. Moller – Maersk and IBM. With these additions and the existing relationships with CMA CGM and MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company, the scope of the platform now extends to more than half of the world’s ocean container cargo.
The addition of these two global carriers is expected to help drive further adoption of TradeLens around the world now that TradeLens customers have access to major carriers in all three leading global vessel sharing alliances on the platform. With an already significant presence in Asia, ONE is further strengthening and expanding its coverage through joint cooperation with TradeLens to help meet the challenging demands of the crucial Asia market.
Vincent Clerc, Chief Commercial Officer, A.P. Moller – Maersk said: “As a neutral industry platform, TradeLens offers supply chain visibility, ease of documentation and the potential of introducing new products on top of the platform. These attributes bring new opportunities for the Maersk transformation towards becoming an end-to-end container logistics company improving the experience and services we offer the customers.”
According to TradeLens, members of the platform gain a comprehensive view of their data and can collaborate as cargo moves around the world, helping create a transparent, secured, immutable record of transactions. The attributes of blockchain technology are ideally suited for large networks of disparate partners. Blockchain establishes a shared, immutable record of all the transactions that take place within a network and enables permissioned parties’ access to secured data in real time.
Hapag-Lloyd and ONE will each operate a blockchain node, participate in consensus to validate transactions, host data, and assume a critical role of acting as Trust Anchors, or validators, for the network. Both companies will be represented on the TradeLens Advisory Board, which will include members across the supply chain to advise on standards for neutrality and openness.
Source: Hapag-Lloyd
