Faqs

TradeLens has been jointly developed by IBM and GTD Solution and is supported by foundational carriers including CMA-CGM, MSC, and Maersk. 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.

There are two primary benefits to publishing data to TradeLens. First, your customers (or clients) are able to simplify the process and complexity of accessing important data from you about their shipments, while reducing your teams (operations) workload to provide that information regularly. Secondly, all data publishers are defined as a party to every given shipment. This designation allows such parties to view permissioned data themselves.

Across the global supply chain, TradeLens is connecting the ecosystem, fostering collaboration and trust, driving true information sharing, and spurring innovation. TradeLens is a combination of technology platform and a network of ecosystem participants that enables better customer service through access to trusted, verified data in near real-time.

Shippers and Beneficial Cargo Owners: A streamlined and improved supply chain allowing for greater predictability, earlier notification of issues, better transparency in order to validate fees and surcharges, and less safety stock inventory.

Ocean Carriers : Reduced costs for customer service and network integration, less revenue leakage and less mis-declared cargo thanks to a digital audit trail of end-to-end shipment events and source documents.

Authorities: Better-informed risk assessments, better information sharing, less manual paperwork and easier connections to national single-window platforms.

Inland Transportation: Improved planning and utilization of assets (e.g., less queuing) through near real-time access to end-to-end supply chain data on shipment events.

3PLs and Freight Forwarders: Pre-built connections to the ecosystem, improved tools for customs clearance brokerage functions, and real-time access to end–to-end supply chain data in order to improve effectiveness of track-and-trace tools.

Ports and Terminals: Pre-built connections to shipping lines and other actors, end-to-end visibility across shipping corridors, and near real-time access to more information in order to encourage port collaboration and improve terminal planning.

The Collaboration owns development, decisions and open items. IBM and GTD Solution jointly own the IP created from the collaboration and host, operate and support the platform.

IBM manages the Platform and the Collaboration manages data governance. Data governance is explained in detail in the TradeLens Data Sharing Specification, which is available here:

TradeLens Data Sharing Specification

Data ownership on TradeLens is with the publishers of data. This model is reflective of how ownership is currently designated off the platform.

Data governance is explained in detail in the TradeLens Data Sharing Specification and Data Retention Policy, which are available here:

TradeLens Data Retention Policy

TradeLens Data Sharing Specification

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TradeLens utilizes distributed ledger technology also known as blockchain. TradeLens uses blockchain to encrypt data which is stored and shared with others across the platform. Blockchain helps to verify documents, workflows and actions in order to improve trust and transparency among those using TradeLens.

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TradeLens accounts for regional compliance and regulatory considerations through partnerships with a growing list of customs authorities and a diverse global membership.

TradeLens is hosted on the IBM Cloud, with the benefits for scalability and high availability provided by IBM Kubernetes service. The platform can be accessed via web application or API.