Blockchain document transfer facilitator CargoX announced Tuesday it will be partnering with CEBS Worldwide to facilitate bill of lading digitalization for former TradeLens customers.
In 2018, IBM and GTD Solution, a division of Maersk, launched the blockchain platform TradeLens with the principal objective to leverage technology to eliminate the use of paper BOLs in global shipping.
While TradeLens was able to onboard global carriers — CMA CGM, MSC Mediterranean Shipping Co., Hapag-Lloyd, Ocean Network Express and Zim Integrated Shipping Services — it announced in November 2022 it would shutter due to a lack of a path toward profitability.
“Unfortunately, while we successfully developed a viable platform, the need for full global industry collaboration has not been achieved. As a result, TradeLens has not reached the level of commercial viability necessary to continue work and meet the financial expectations of an independent business,” Rotem Hershko, head of business platforms for Maersk, said at the time.
Related: TradeLens global data-sharing platform shuttering
Now CEBS Worldwide, a large integrator for TradeLens’ product, is teaming up with CargoX to provide previous TradeLens customers with a working blockchain solution for digitizing BOL operations.
“We are committed to digitalizing the supply chain network for all trading partners and ensuring all transactions and documents exchanged are secure, traceable, and immutable. We have good partnerships and teams working with the public and private sector to shape the future and usher in a new era of global trade that is both frictionless and compliant,” said Satish Swaroop, chief executive officer of CEBS Worldwide.
According to both companies, the transition should be straightforward for customers who are looking for a similar TradeLens product, and CargoX has already partnered with a number of industry groups looking to standardize blockchain and data standards in the industry, including the Digital Container Shipping Association (DCSA).
“In order to create an innovative mobile application for any industry, you need a standardized way of communicating data through API integrations. We are not trying to standardize each company’s mobile application, just how they are communicating that data,” Ellen Sun, chief marketing officer at DCSA, told FreightWaves.
Using these global standards, CargoX assisted Eygpt in adopting its National Single Window for Foreign Trade Facilitation (NAFEZA), merging more than 26 cargo clearance systems and eliminating the need for over 10 additional customs documents for goods entering and exiting the country.
In January, CargoX also proved interoperability for eBOLs after transferring global trade documents for a shipment between its blockchain solution and competitor edoxOnline. The transfer brought the traditionally long transfer process down to six minutes.
“The digitalization of trade documentation is in full swing worldwide, and companies need all the support and advice they can get to implement the optimum solutions into their everyday workflows,” said CargoX CEO Stefan Kukman in the CEBS partnership news release.
“We see demand rising daily, and more than 104,000 companies registered on our platform prove that the CargoX Platform is becoming a standard item in the toolboxes of modern supply chain participants.”
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