The Russian Ministry of Transport signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with A.P. Moller – Maersk, launching TradeLens in Russia. The blockchain platform 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 MoU was signed between Maersk CEO Søren Skou and Mr. Yuriy Tsvetkov, Deputy Transport Minister and Head of Federal Maritime and River transport Agency.
The Russian market will be able to introduce digital documentation flow, in comparison to today’s paper-based transportation processes.
Mr. Yuriy Tsvetkov at the signing ceremony noted
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.
Maersk’s statement highlights that the MoU with Russia, enables TradeLens blockchain project to have a strong 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.
The participants don’t have the ability to modify, delete or append any record without consensus of the rest in the project; Therefore, the transparency level provides liability in reducing fraud and errors.
In the past, Maersk and IBM experienced problems concerning their blockchain project, TradeLens. Yet, both companies seem to have overcome their difficulties by having Modern Terminals joining and supporting the project and ports such as Port of Valencia, Port of Montreal, Saudi Arabia, Port Authority of Bay of Algeciras, ZIM, CMA CGM and MSC.