From left to right: Metz Nip, Trade & Sales General Manager, MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company; Xin Li, Vice President, Industry Business Development, IBM Greater China Group; Haifeng Chen, President of China Unicom IOT Research Institute and Vice President of China Unicom Digital Tech; Caroline Wu, Managing Director, A.P. Moller - Maersk, Greater China; Ludovic Renou, Chief Executive Officer, CMA CGM (China) Shipping Co. Ltd; Jerry Guan, Senior Commercial Manager, TradeLens

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Within a month of announcing general availability of the TradeLens platform in China, more than 10 new members have joined the ecosystem to digitize paper-based processes and improve the visibility for Chinese companies into global trade

NANJING, June 17th, 2021 – China Unicom Digital Tech, A.P. Moller – Maersk (MAERSKb.CO) and IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that more than 10 members have joined TradeLens in Chinese Mainland in the first month since its launch on May 10. The new members of the ecosystem to advance trade digitization include industry-leading Chinese companies, two port groups and eight intermodal and inland logistics providers. TradeLens is a neutral blockchain-enabled digital container logistics platform, jointly developed by A.P. Moller - Maersk and IBM, and includes foundational carriers CMA CGM and MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company. China Unicom Digital Tech hosts and operate TradeLens in Chinese Mainland, making it available to global and domestic exporters and importers in China.

The TradeLens platform is built by the industry and for the industry and is designed to modernize trade in a number of crucial dimensions. Through the platform, TradeLens customers gain access to end-to-end container transportation visibility, can collaborate with their logistics and trading partners including sharing documents on blockchain, and gain a comprehensive picture of the flow of goods. Partner Access can helps drive synergies across supply chain ecosystem, and TradeLens electronic Bill of Lading helps eliminate costly paperless processes that are prone to human error. 

 A signing ceremony was held during the event signaling the rapid adoption of China enterprises to embarking digital innovative journey with the platform.

TradeLens brings together data from the entire global supply chain ecosystem including shippers, port operators, intermodal operators, customs authorities, and shipping lines. It aims to modernize manual and paper-based documents, replacing them with blockchain enabled digital solutions. Launched in 2018, the TradeLens ecosystem now includes direct integrations with more than 300 organizations – extending to more than 10 ocean carriers and encompassing data from more than 600 ports and terminals. Already it has tracked over 42 million container shipments, close to 2.2 billion events and roughly 20 million published documents. 

As part of the deployment of TradeLens in the Chinese market, China Unicom hosts the TradeLens platform allowing near real-time data direct from the source with one of the world’s largest economies. Making these data immediately available for use by exporters and importers working with the Chinese markets means clients worldwide can now achieve efficiencies in their operational workflows for documentation and best in class container visibility. You can read more about TradeLens here.

About China Unicom Digital Tech 

China Unicom Digital Technology Company Limited (abbreviated as China Unicom Digital Tech), was officially established on February 7, 2021. It’s a strategic layout of China Unicom to create unique innovative competitive advantages and achieve differentiated innovative breakthroughs.  The company is committed to promote high-quality development of China’s digital economy and enable the digital transformation of government and enterprise customers. 

About TradeLens 

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. 

Quotes:

“As a customer of TradeLens, we admire the innovation and commitment to digitalization of logistics. At Sany we are excited with the prospect of more industry leading cutting-edge technology,” says Dong Huang, Logistics Manager, Sany Heavy Industry. 

“We look forward to the application of blockchain technology in the traditional logistics industry. It is our honor to partner with these shipping giants to welcome the arrival of a new era”, says Jian Chen, President, Easy LCL.

“New Ocean Line is a leading meat import service provider in China. As an integrated cold chain service provider, we are committed to build a reliable cross-border cold chain ecosystem. The blockchain-enabled TradeLens digital platform provides smart logistics data services to achieve digital collaboration in the supply chain for all parties. This puts China's cross-border cold chain industry on the path to innovation and more advanced technology”, says Fengbo Chu, President, New Ocean Line. (haven’t signed agreement yet)

“Connecting to the TradeLens platform is an important opportunity for Xiamen Port to expand our information service capabilities. Ports play pivotal role in area logistics. By integrating with TradeLens, it will allow us to improve operational efficiency and empower each other to support supply chain participants domestically and abroad to enhance the control of logistics dynamics. We will make our efforts to facilitate a smooth industrial and supply chain flow,” said Mr. Zhaohui Chen, Vice General Manager of Xiamen Port Holding Group.

“TradeLens may help to improve efficiency, mitigate fraud and drive green financing, as well as promote economic inclusion in global finance especially for small and medium enterprises. As a Fintech serving the ecosystem, we look forward to pushing adoption of digital Bills of Lading together, filling the gap between enterprise value chains and financial institutions with faster, cheaper, easier financial services and lower risk.” said Lincoln Yin, CEO of RootAnt Global - Singapore based Fintech, the first digital transaction banking Neobank (BANCO platform) in APAC.

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