Maersk-IBM Joint Blockchain Venture TradeLens is Shutting Down

Early last week, Maersk and IBM announced that they are shutting down TradeLens, their joint project based on blockchain technology to improve supply chain industry.

Founded in 2018, TradeLens platform has been jointly developed by Maersk and IBM. It was founded on the bold vision to make a leap in global supply chain digitization as an open and neutral industry platform underpinned by blockchain technology.

"TradeLens team is taking action to withdraw the offerings and discontinue the platform, 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 the news announcement of Maersk.

Citing the reason for discontinuation of the platform, Rotem Hershko Head of Business Platforms at Maersk said that TradeLens has not reached the level of commercial viability necessary to continue work and meet the financial expectations as an independent business.

With TradeLens, Maersk and IBM implemented a block-chain-enabled solution creating more efficient and secure global trade. However, due to a lack of adequate viability in the market, TradeLens will currently no longer be offered by Maersk.

In the year when its launched, IBM and Maersk announced that 94 organizations were actively involved or have had agreed to participate on the TradeLens platform. Besides, it was also claimed that about 234 marine gateways/ports worldwide have had or would be actively participating on TradeLens. 

To recall, in July 2020 Mumbai-based Shipwaves, a digital freight forwarder, also joined TradeLens platform aimed at accelerating the digitization of the ocean logistics space, especially in India and the Middle-East.

TradeLens eventually shutting the shop now. 

"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 Rotem Hershko. 

During the process of closing of TradeLens platform, a dedicated team will continue to support the platform and assist the customers in the transition, said the company.

Tech-Logistics Startup Freightwalla Joins Hands with Maersk to Provide Spot Rates on its Platform

The partnership to provide more transparency, reliability and assurance to import and export shipments

Freightwalla Team [Image - Entrepreneur.com ]

India, 08th December 2020: To bring more transparency and reliability in import and export shipments, India's leading digital forwarding startup Freightwalla has partnered with Maersk to offer spot rates on its platform.

Inaccuracy and un-reliability were the two significant challenges that are being solved by Freightwalla while providing end-to-end supply chain services to the larger EXIM fraternity. It will give access to spot rates 24/7, provide accurate information, and give assurance of loading on the allocated vessel. The spot rate integration with Freightwalla will allow shippers to search, secure competitive rates, and book container space instantly online, making it more reliable.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Punit Java, Co-Founder & CTO Freightwalla said, "The conventional booking process involved multiple steps with no guarantee of loading. Maersk's Spot rate integration enables our customers to see instant rates and see real-time availability of equipment, space, and surety of loading for their shipments. Given the challenges in today's market with space, customers have a definitive advantage in their logistics planning. It will simplify the overall booking experience of exporters or importers."

Maersk introduced spot rates to reduce overbooking cycles while also providing a price and cargo loading assurance. Traditional freight forwarding has been a highly manual and inefficient process, and the shipping industry's digital revolution has been long overdue. When it comes to the booking process, there are two major challenges associated with booking freight offline. First, the accuracy and reliability of the contracted rates are poor. There is a possibility of the vessel being overbooked and the customers facing unprecedented delays in shipping their cargo. Second, this unreliability makes clients perform multiple bookings with different liners in a bid to guarantee that their cargo will get a spot on at least one of them. Such poor transparency in processes leads to either the vessel being overbooked, the customers facing delays, or the vessel being under-booked due to duplicate bookings and the liners facing losses. Spot rate integration will help establish the much-needed two-way commitment between the liners and the traders, similar to the airline-like booking model, ensuring full authenticity from all the parties involved.

Within a year of receiving the seed fund, the Freightwalla raised $ 4 million (approximately INR 28.70 crores) as part of Series A funding from India and US-based venture capital firms in September 2019. It has been utilizing these funds to develop its tech portal to provide a seamless shipping experience to its customers. The company's mission has been to build a service that addresses the modern business needs of simplicity and transparency for shippers worldwide. With a mix of advanced online tools, state-of-the-art analytics, and dedicated customer service, it aims at tackling the inefficiencies involved in moving goods internationally to take the stress out of international shipping.

About Freightwalla:

Headquartered in Mumbai, Freightwalla is India's fastest growing technology enabled freight forwarding start-up. The company focuses on bringing increased value and transparency to international shippers by empowering them with state-of-the-art technology and tools to better organise and monitor their logistics online through its platform freightwalla.com

Digital Freight Forwarder Shipwaves joins Maersk-IBM developed Blockchain-based TradeLens platform

The Mumbai-based digital freight forwarder will leverage TradeLens’ solutions to accelerate secure digitization in ocean logistics

Shipwaves, an industry-leading digital freight forwarder has joined Maersk-IBM developed TradeLends platform. The association between the front-running blockchain-powered supply chain solution provider and digital freight forwarder is aimed at accelerating the digitization of the ocean logistics space, especially in India and the Middle-East. 

Having recently allowed shipping bill of lading to be filed over a blockchain platform, India has been betting big on blockchain-enabled solutions to digitize its maritime supply chains. Along the same vein, TradeLens provides controlled, permissioned access to secure and immutable transportation documents while bringing together stakeholders such as shipping carriers, ports, customs offices, and other players in the ecosystem through its blockchain-led platform.

Through this linkage, Shipwaves will be able to provide timely end-to-end supply chain visibility, secured sharing of digital shipping documents, and data directly from partners. This will enable the forwarder to improve efficiency and decrease operational costs by a significant margin. Additionally, the smart-contract based workflows will automate and digitize multi-party interactions, which will result in improved efficiency.

According to Bimal Kanal, Head of TradeLens in South Asia, “TradeLens is an industry-wide neutral platform aiming to spur innovation in the complex logistics industry. We aim to build a digital ecosystem that will drive benefits for all on the platform. With Shipwaves collaborating with TradeLens, we have an important supply chain enabler furthering our joint desire of removing manual tasks and enabling digitized workflows in the logistics industry."

Commenting on the association, Sajid Mohammed, COO, Shipwaves, said, “Our  working with TradeLens marks a significant milestone which will enable us to digitize our customers’ operations and lead them into the blockchain era of global trade. While we were one of the early innovators in the digital freight forwarding space, the ongoing pandemic taught us that, this alone is not enough. One also needs collaboration to enhance competence and expand capabilities. Our SaaS products helped us gain deep insights into the inner universe of clients’ IT systems and how they interact with their logistics teams and stakeholders. We believe that the TradeLens platform will truly elevate our value proposition, allowing us to  interconnect with shippers, carriers & other stakeholders. The best part is that all this will be done using the innovative technology that ensures security, trust, and transparency."

Enabling freight forwarders with data direct from the source to enhance their offering to their clients is a key tenet of TradeLens. Having directly connected with over 160 entities ranging from ocean carriers, ports, shippers, inland providers, and more, the granularity of data offered includes over 120 supply chain events including transportation plans, estimated and actual events. Leveraging this in-depth data to bolster steadfast digitization, the development is set to unlock the next phase of growth in the ocean logistics ecosystem. 

About Shipwaves Online Private Limited:

Founded in 2015, Shipwaves is Asia's first Digital Freight Forwarder. It prides itself in being a logistics company fully built around the needs of shippers, and delivers solutions through technology and logistics expertise. It helps shippers around the world to plan, book, and manage their shipments by offering instant rates, quick quotes, online booking, and real-time visibility. It also offers value-added services like customs clearance, marine insurance, and advanced data analytics to lower freight costs.

Additionally, Shipwaves provides SaaS offerings to global Enterprise customers to automate their end-to-end shipping processes. It uses the latest technologies, automation tools, and predictive analytics to provide its customers with visibility and control over the entire shipment lifecycle. The intuitive platform seamlessly connects shippers, carriers, and their partners to integrate and collaborate across the entire supply chain gambit. The company has multiple offices in India and the UAE and has tie-ups with several shipping, air cargo, trucking, and Fintech companies.

About TradeLens

The TradeLens platform has been jointly developed by Maersk and IBM. TradeLens is an open and neutral industry platform underpinned by blockchain technology, supported by major players across the global shipping industry. The platform promotes the efficient, transparent, and secure exchange of information in order to foster greater collaboration and trust across the global supply chain.

About Maersk 

A.P. Moller - Maersk is an integrated container logistics company working to connect and simplify its customers' supply chains. As the global leader in shipping services, the company operates in 130 countries and employs roughly 76,000 people.

AI Startup Senseforth.ai Selected for OceanPro, Maersk’s Startup Accelerator

Senseforth.ai, a leader in Conversational AI space, has been selected as part of cohort 3 of OceanPro, Maersk’s startup accelerator within the shipping and logistics industry. Maersk recently announced the launch of cohort 3, which focuses on Maersk’s e-commerce platforms, optimizing the brand experience and customer journey. Maersk.com is currently among the world’s largest B2B transaction sites, generating an average hourly revenue of $1.45 million.

Speaking about the development, Shridhar Marri, CEO & Co-founder, Senseforth.ai said, “We are thrilled to be a part of OceanPro Program and look forward to transforming customer experience on Maersk’s ecommerce platform.” As part of this initiative, Senseforth.ai would be closely working with Maersk’s ecommerce team over a period of 120 days to build an AI-powered virtual customer support solution.

Sriram Narayanasami, The OceanPro Accelerator Program Sponsor and Global Commercial Process Head, Maersk, said in a statement, “At Maersk, as industry leaders we continue to foster innovation to fuel our transformation. Our OceanPro program supports this journey by leveraging the startup expertise in building digital solutions that improve ease of doing business for our customers.”

In addition to OceanPro, Senseforth.ai has been a part of other startup accelerators such as the NetApp Excellerator and Ashurst’s FinTech Legal Labs in the UK.
About Senseforth

Senseforth.ai is a leader in the Conversational AI space, having built hundreds of highly successful conversational bots for global brands that include Nestle, PwC, Airtel, CFCU, Teacher’s Credit Union, Max Life Insurance, Future Generali and SBI Card, to name a few. Senseforth’s proprietary platform A.ware, handles over 100 million conversations each month with an industry-leading accuracy of 93%. The company recently launched its suite of Conversational Banking solutions for the European market at the FinTech Connect 2019, London.

For more information: https://www.senseforth.ai/

About A.P. Moller - Maersk

A.P. Moller - Maersk is an integrated container logistics company working to connect and simplify its customers’ supply chains. As the global leader in shipping services, the company operates in 130 countries and employs roughly 76,000 people.

FreightBro becomes the 1st Indian Company to Integrate Maersk Spot on its Digital Platform

FreightBro, a freight-tech start-up, digitizing the manual processes in forwarding, announced the integration of Maersk Spot within its digital platform for freight forwarders. In a first-of-a-kind initiative across India, FreightBro platform will now use Maersk Spot APIs, allowing customers to book and secure container space online and in real-time. With this integration, freight forwarders can now access real-time rates on the platform. This product guarantees equipment availability and cargo loading on Maersk and Safmarine services irrespective of the peak season at a fixed price.

Mr Kathiresan Eswaramurthy, COO, FreightBro, mentioned, "Maersk Spot is indeed a game-changer and our customers can benefit not only from the rate discovery, but they can also search, compare and book instantly, with guaranteed equipment and space availability on the FreightBro platform."

[caption id="attachment_141436" align="aligncenter" width="703"] Maersk SPOT rates on FreightBro - 1st forwarder facing digital platform[/caption]

The booking process in shipping is largely manual and primarily involves a lot of back and forth communication between various stakeholders. With this integration, FreightBro aims to double its digital rate deliveries and online bookings while providing a very simple airline-like booking experience to the forwarding industry. FreightBro has enabled 500+ freight forwarders to sell online using their proprietary digital platform.

Earlier in 2019, Maersk launched its online product, Maersk Spot, that curbs the cycle of overbookings and simplifies the booking process for customers while guaranteeing cargo loading. This is a revolutionary step ahead towards simplifying supply chains and enhancing the overall booking experience in shipping.

About Maersk

A.P. Moller - Maersk is an integrated container logistics company working to connect and simplify its customers' supply chains. As the global leader in shipping services, the company operates in 130 countries and employs roughly 70,000 people. Our mission is to enable and facilitate global supply chains and provide opportunities for our customers to trade globally.

About FreightBro

FreightBro is a freight technology start-up aimed at revolutionizing the trillion-dollar forwarding industry through digitization of the manual processes in logistics. FreightBro aims to equip forwarders with a digital platform that enables them to procure rates faster, increase operational efficiencies, boost sales, make informed decisions using data analytics and thereby provide a seamless user experience.

FreightBro was founded by Raghavendran Viswanathan, Mohammed Zakkiria A and V Anand Babu in October 2016.

Danish Shipping Firm Maersk Launches India Accelerator to Support Startups in Supply Chain

World's largest container shipping company based out of Denmark, Maersk, has announced the launch of 'OceanPro', a tech accelerator programme in Bengaluru to support Indian startups in supply chain solutions space by offering them to partner with Maersk to bring innovative technology solutions to ease global supply chain for customers.

The India-focused OceanPro is an intensive 120-day accelerator programme offering startups the opportunity to partner with Maersk to bring innovative technology solutions to ease the global supply chain for customers, a release said.

OceanPro by Maersk focuses on innovations that will benefit the transport and logistics sector like Blockchain, Internet of Things, Advance Text Analytics (machine learning/Artificial Intelligence), AR/VR including Advanced Learning, Image Analytics, and Fintech.

The company said it has already identified 7 external startups and one internal startup to collaborate with to develop solutions for customer engagement and operations management. These startups include - Unido Labs, La Vela Pictures, Zasti, Inatrix, MintM, LinkedDots, KrypC and Dhruv.

OceanPro by Maersk is a program where start-ups can showcase their products and capabilities and receive support from the market leader in transport and logistics.

Benefits of the start-ups who will join the OceanPro by Maersk include:

• Leverage on Maersk’s mentors, connect with customers, and co-develop solutions using Maersk’s data



• Start-ups will have an opportunity to pitch to Maersk, and other potential investors after the program. Maersk may provide funding during the program.



• Co-location space in Maersk’s Digital Center in Bangalore, India for 12 – 16 weeks

See More at - https://www.f6s.com/maerskoceanpro/apply

The OceanPro team in Bangalore will also focus on building partnerships with other accelerators, universities, venture capital partners and the broader startup ecosystem.

Maersk has also collaborated with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore, sponsoring two fellows for Masters in Technology with the vision to promote research and exchange of ideas in developing industry leading digital solutions.

“We recognize the immense potential of India’s technology and digital talent and are looking to capitalize on these capabilities to help the logistics industry worldwide, to reinvent itself,” said Søren Skou, CEO, A.P. Moller - Maersk, during his visit to Maersk’s Global Service Centers in Bangalore this week.

“With Maersk leading the technological transformation of the shipping and logistics Industry which has traditionally been driven by manual processes, OceanPro is yet another effort by us to promote the creation of innovative solutions that meet evolving business needs,” Skou added.

Source - Business Standard, Projects Today, Marinelink