TradeLens to launch in Russia with pilot in St. Petersburg
The digital platform, enabled by Blockchain and jointly developed by Maersk GTD and IBM, becomes available in Russia. As part of the agreement with Russian authorities, St. Petersburg area becomes the pilot for the launch and its port joins TradeLens’ ecosystem of companies and organisations pioneering digitised container documentation flows in the global supply chain, Maersk said in a press release.
A.P. Moller - Maersk and Russian Ministry of Transport signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 5th June, enabling the launch of TradeLens in Russia. The blockchain enabled platform, jointly developed by Maersk (through its subsidiary Maersk GTD Inc.) and IBM, is expected to significantly facilitate international trade, not least by the inclusion of the Port of St. Petersburg, Russia’s main container gateway, as part of the pilot launch.
The agreement, signed by Maersk CEO Søren Skou and Mr. Yuriy Tsvetkov, Deputy Transport Minister and Head of Federal Maritime and River transport Agency, enables the implementation of TradeLens on the Russian market with the aim of introducing digital documentation flow in what is currently mostly paper-based transportation processes. With this, the benefits of the platform will soon be extended to many businesses.
“The main result of the implementation of TradeLens, according to our expectations, should be an increase in the transparency of the Contracting procedure by distributing information about supply and demand, conditions and operations between many participants of the transport and logistics processes” said Mr. Yuriy Tsvetkov at the signing ceremony.
“TradeLens offers unprecedented benefits to all parties involved in the transportation process by bringing full transparency of cargo moves, while enabling seamless, secure sharing of real-time actionable supply chain information to all involved participants. The TradeLens platform fosters collaboration and trust while improving user experience and lowering costs through digitisation. We are pleased to now start this journey in Russia, to expand the reach and value of our platform and its data to all participants, comments Mike White, CEO and Head of TradeLens for Maersk GTD Inc.
Last week it was announced that more carriers will be joining the blockchain-enabled digital shipping platform, which will result in data for nearly half of the world’s ocean container cargo shortly available on TradeLens.
With the St. Petersburg launch, TradeLens gains significant presence in Russia. The platform aims to significantly facilitate the interaction between shippers and various regulatory and administrative bodies in the country, ultimately increasing the speed of cargo clearance and movement of goods across borders. TradeLens enables participants to connect, share information and collaborate across the container logistics supply chain ecosystem. Members gain a comprehensive view of their data and can digitally collaborate as cargo moves around the world, helping create a transparent, secured, immutable record of transactions.
With more than 100 participants on the platform today, TradeLens is already processing over ten million discrete shipping events and thousands of documents each week, providing shippers, carriers, freight forwarders, customs officials, port authorities, inland transportation providers, and others a common view of transactions, which can build trust. A commitment to data ownership rights and permissioned access to data helps ensure privacy and confidentiality, while enabling users to collaborate more efficiently with real-time access to shipping data.
About TradeLens
The TradeLens platform has been jointly developed by Maersk Global Trade Digitisation (GTD) and IBM. TradeLens is an open and neutral industry platform underpinned by blockchain technology, supported by major players across the global shipping industry. The platform promotes the efficient, transparent and secure exchange of information in order to foster greater collaboration and trust across the global supply chain.
