19 February 2020
The Indonesia Customs and Excise Department adopted the blockchain-enabled shipping platform TradeLens to improve the speed, accuracy and security of local and international shipping tracking. The Indonesia Customs and Excise Department is at least the third government agency in Southeast Asia to use the platform.
Developed jointly by IBM and Maersk, TradeLens is using blockchain to digitize the container shipping industry and enable transparency in the container supply chain.
The platform is expected to help in more efficient and accurate container tracking and information sharing among platform members. This will also facilitate fraud and forgery inspections as well as more consistent and transparent revenue collection processes. It will also simplify the exchange of goods, automate documentation, and increase co-operation and communication between counterparties.
The TradeLens ecosystem includes global shippers, shipping lines, third-party logistics providers, freight forwarders, customs authorities and border agencies. It also includes more than 20 port and terminal operators, representing about 234 marine gateways or seaports on five continents.
According to the data collected by the system, the use of TradeLens is claimed to reduce the transit time of a shipment by 40 percent, which represents thousands of dollars in cost saving.