CMA CGM and MSC to Join TradeLens Blockchain-enabled Digital Shipping Platform

Global container carriers CMA CGM and MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) today announced they will join TradeLens, a blockchain-enabled digital shipping platform, jointly developed by A.P. Moller - Maersk (MAERSKb.CO) and IBM (NYSE: IBM). With CMA CGM, MSC, Maersk, and other carriers committed to the platform, data for nearly half of the world’s ocean container cargo will be available on TradeLens.

The addition of CMA CGM and MSC will provide a significant boost to the TradeLens vision of greater trust, transparency, and collaboration across supply chains to help promote global trade. The companies will promote TradeLens and create complementary services on top of the platform for their customers and partners.

“Digitization is a cornerstone of the CMA CGM Group’s strategy to provide an end-to-end offer tailored to our customers’ needs. We believe that TradeLens, with its commitment to open standards and open governance, is a key platform to help usher in this digital transformation,” said Rajesh Krishnamurthy, Executive Vice President, IT & Transformations, CMA CGM Group.

“TradeLens’ network is already showing that participants from across the supply chain ecosystem can derive significant value.” “Digital collaboration is a key to the evolution of the container shipping industry. The TradeLens platform has enormous potential to spur the industry to digitize the supply chain and build collaboration around common standards,” said Andre Simha, Chief Digital & Information Officer, MSC. “We think that the TradeLens Advisory Board, as well as standards bodies such as the Digital Container Shipping Association, will help accelerate that effort.”

TradeLens enables participants to connect, share information and collaborate across the shipping 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 attributes of blockchain technology are ideally suited to large networks of disparate partners. Blockchain establishes a shared, immutable record of all the transactions that take place within a network and enables permissioned parties access to trusted data in real time. 

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