More than 50 ports and terminals from different countries in Latin America are currently working with the blockchain-based digital platform developed by IBM and Maersk, TradeLens.
In particular, the terminals that have joined TradeLens include Terminal Zárate in Argentina, Terminal Puerto Rosario in Argentina, Terminal de Buenaventura in Colombia, Port of Santos in Brasil, Terminal Pacífico Sur Valparaíso in Chile and San Vicente International Terminal in Chile.
In 2018, as ECLAC indicates, the activity of the main container ports in Latin America exceeded 53 million TEUs, reaching almost 10% of world production. In fact, throughout the last decades the region has experienced a breakthrough in the operation of its ports, increasing operational efficiency by more than 20%.
The system is aiming to digitize trade documentation, representing more than half of the global vessel capacity and has the support of five of the six largest global container shipping lines. TradeLens currently processes almost 10 million shipping events every week.
Earlier this month, Global Container Terminals Inc., operator of four big container terminals in North America, joined the platform. By taking part in TradeLens, GCT aims to securely connect with supply chain partners including ocean carriers, beneficial cargo owners, and railways.
In regard to the above, Nadia Hewett, project Lead for Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology at the World Economic Forum’s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, underlines that transport companies are now starting to understand the benefits of blockchain initiatives.
She notes that “large carriers and different industry groups have come to us saying, ‘we’ve done the proof of concepts, we understand the value of blockchain technology, but we also now understand that we can’t do this by ourselves. We have to work with our competitors.”
As explained, the transportation industry has a very complex stakeholder landscape, and has traditionally demonstrated lack of willingness to share data.
To increase the likelihood of success and thereby maximize the benefits of blockchain along value chains, we launched the ‘Blockchain is a Team Sport: Making Blockchain Consortia Work’ project to foster impartial industry and ecosystem-wide blockchain collaboration. The goal of the project is to create a framework to guide industries like shipping to reach consensus on what constitutes fair, neutral and robust consortia governance—in terms of rules, cost allocation and intellectual property—and what makes for a joint industry blockchain platform that’s well-designed, so it is sustainable,
…she adds.
