Hong Kong takes the lead in blockchain logistics after Maersk TradeLens demise
After Danish logistics firm Maersk terminated its blockchain-based supply chain platform last year, industry builders have not given up on blockchain applications in global trade.
Hong Kong-based Global Shipping Business Network (GSBN), a nonprofit consortium focused on blockchain trade applications, is bullish on blockchain as a crucial logistics tool in the long term.
According to a report by the South China Morning Post, GSBN currently operates one of the world’s largest platforms that can be described as an alternative to Maersk’s TradeLens tool. The platform is based on a permissioned blockchain with strong data governance, allowing only authorized parties to contribute and consume shipping-related data.
Since launching its blockchain-based shipping platform in 2021, GSBN has tapped major shipping partners like Cosco, Orient Overseas Container Line and Hapag-Lloyd. The organization has also reached partnerships with terminal operators like Hutchison Ports, SPG Qingdao Port, PSA International, Shanghai International Port Group and Cosco Shipping Ports.
Among the members, only German Hapag-Lloyd and Singaporean PSA International are not based in mainland China or Hong Kong.
Despite major industry firms like Maersk terminating similar projects, GSBN CEO Bertrand Chen is confident that blockchain has yet to catch on, and its adoption may take another decade.
“I think for a lot of people, the clear understanding is this industry has digitized,” Chen said, arguing that there’s no chance that global trade will continue using “pen and paper” by 2032. According to the executive, blockchain has the potential to help the industry transform in response to triggers of supply issues like COVID-19. He stated:
The executive suggested that
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