Index-linked agreements: 'shippers have to have the stomach for them'
Shippers pondering the pros and cons of index-linked agreements (ILAs) “have to have the stomach ...
© Pindiyath
By Alex Lennane
Maersk and IBM have faced a fair amount of criticism over the relatively slow movement of their TradeLens blockchain project.
Industry commentators have speculated that Maersk’s involvement has put off new shipping line members coming in.
However, Modern Terminals, the second largest container operator in Hong Kong, has now joined several other ports involved in the project, which aims to digitise and streamline processes.
The Trade Lens ecosystem should help cut costs and increase efficiency. Trial runs have shown that shipment times can ...
Comment on this article
Miles Varghese
November 27, 2018 at 3:50 pmAdopting an industry-wide, open blockchain will take at least 5-10 years. The industry is siloed and very competitive – let alone each liners’ customers around the globe. Many of which who are not tech savvy and do not care for technology outright.
TradeLens might be that platform, but until we see the entire industry migrating towards a more unified standard (hoping the consortium works out), we at OCTOPI (a terminal operating system provider) do not advocate blockchain to any of our clients first. Pay attention, but exercise caution and be weary in the early technical alliances you get into.
Let’s first digitize operations and get everyone off pen, paper, and excel, and then we can talk blockchain, IoT, AI, etc..
Great to see more terminal operating companies starting to join in like Modern Terminals.