Maersk and IBM are stopping their Tradelens platform in Q1 2023 (source: Maersk)
Tradelens platform to close as it has not ‘reached the level of commercial viability necessary’
A.P. Moller – Maersk (Maersk) and IBM have announced the decision to withdraw their TradeLens service offerings from the market and discontinue the platform.
Starting immediately, the companies said the TradeLens team is taking action, and the intent is that the platform will go offline by end of quarter one, 2023.
“During this process all parties involved will ensure that customers are attended to without disruptions to their businesses,” said a statement.
A.P. Moller Maersk head of business platforms Rotem Hershko said:“TradeLens was founded on the bold vision to make a leap in global supply chain digitisation as an open and neutral industry platform. 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 as an independent business.”
Maersk said in a statement that 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.
“We are deeply grateful for the relentless efforts of our committed industry members and many tech talents, who together have worked diligently to advance the digitalisation of the industry through the TradeLens platform. We will leverage the work of TradeLens as a steppingstone to further push our digitisation agenda and look forward to harnessing the energy and ability of our technology talent in new ways,” said Mr Hershko.
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.
Competitor GBSN’s CEO Bertrand Chan commented “At GSBN, we are focused in our mission driving the digital transformation of global trade and are fully committed to supporting stakeholders across the industry throughout this journey.We continue to closely follow the industry’s latest developments.”
Riviera Maritime Media has a comprehensive conference programme for the remainder of 2022 and will provide free technical and operational webinars in 2023.
