At this year’s Global Liner Shipping & Shipping2030 Asia, we gathered some of the most prominent thought leaders, and asked them to share their views on the hottest topics in shipping and maritime.
In this interview, Todd Scott, VP Global Trade – Blockchain at IBM, talks to us about TradeLens and a fully digitised global trade.
Can you tell us about how the Maersk-IBM partnership came about?
“IBM and Maersk Line have been in a relationship for 100 years. We were engaged on another project, and we really uncovered the challenges associated with moving cargo around the world and the core of their business. We decided to jointly develop a solution that could address all these concerns, and here we are!”
What inefficiencies is TradeLens designed to solve? How is it going so far?
“So far so good. [TradeLens is solving] two major things. First of all, visibility as to where a container is at any given time can be very difficult to track down. There are many places where it could be. Ocean carriers have a lot of that information but as do ports, customs authorities, and freight forwarders. Being able to have a consolidated view of where a container is is what we are trying to solve on the one hand.
The other aspect of this is all the documentation. There’s so much paper involved, even with the delivery of containers to the port, as well as all the documentation which you need to conduct business between countries. Lots of documents, lots of paper – so we are looking to digitise that.
Can you share your vision of a fully digitised global trade? What innovations will take us there?
“I think that blockchain has the ability to help us digitise the supply chain when it comes to the global movement of cargo. Think about it from the time that the container is staffed all the way to the time it is unloaded. That can be digitised. The first thing you want to do is to have a platform with all the information and all the events of where a container is. [All of this on] one platform, open, easy access for everyone in the ecosystem.
Secondarily, the documents – these documents are highly confidential, such as the bill of lading. You’d want that secure on the blockchain, and the only people who have access to it are those with permission. So we are solving a business problem by leveraging a blockchain platform, which is all about trying to create value for everyone through collaboration.”
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