Maersk and IBM have decided to withdraw the TradeLens offerings and discontinue the blockchain-enabled trade platform. The companies say that although a viable platform was developed, the need for full global industry collaboration has not been achieved.
‘TradeLens was founded on the bold vision to make a leap in global supply chain digitisation as an open and neutral industry platform,’ says Rotem Hershko, Head of Business Platforms at Maersk. Yet, as global collaboration was not reached, Hershko says that ‘TradeLens has not reached the level of commercial viability necessary to continue work and meet the financial expectations as an independent business.
The TradeLens team has already begun to withdraw the offerings and discontinue the platform, and the intent is that the platform will go offline by end of quarter one, 2023.
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Maersk will continue digitisation in other ways
Maersk says it will continue its efforts to digitise the supply chain and increase industry innovation through other solutions to reduce trade friction and promote more global trade.
Hershko: ‘We will leverage the work of TradeLens as a stepping stone to further push our digitisation agenda and look forward to harnessing the energy and ability of our technology talent in new ways.’
Also read: G2 Ocean: Biggest challenge of using blockchain in shipping is implementation
TradeLens
The TradeLens platform was announced in 2018 and jointly developed by IBM and GTD Solution, a division of Maersk, as a blockchain-enabled shipping solution designed to promote more efficient and secure global trade.
Picture by Maersk.
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