We use cookies to provide you with a better experience. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies in accordance with our Cookie Policy.
  • INDUSTRY PRESS ROOM
  • ABOUT
  • CONTACT
  • MEDIA FILE
  • Create Account
  • Sign In
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
Free Newsletters
  • MAGAZINE
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Digital Edition
    • Subscribe
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • TRANSPORTATION
  • MATERIAL HANDLING
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • LIFT TRUCKS
  • PODCAST ETC
    • Podcast
    • Webcasts
    • Blogs
      • One-Off Sound Off
      • Global Logistics and Risk
      • Empowering Your Performance Edge
      • Analytics & Big Data
      • Submit your blog post
    • Events
    • White Papers
    • Industry Press Room
      • Upload Your News
    • New Products
      • Upload Your Product News
    • Conference Guides
    • Conference Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • DCV-TV
    • DCV-TV 1: News
    • DCV-TV 2: Case Studies
    • DCV-TV 3: Webcasts
    • DCV-TV 4: Viewer Contributed
    • DCV-TV 5: Solution Profiles
    • Parcel Forum 2022
    • MODEX 2022
    • Upload Your Video
  • MAGAZINE
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Digital Edition
    • Subscribe
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • TRANSPORTATION
  • MATERIAL HANDLING
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • LIFT TRUCKS
  • PODCAST ETC
    • Podcast
    • Webcasts
    • Blogs
      • One-Off Sound Off
      • Global Logistics and Risk
      • Empowering Your Performance Edge
      • Analytics & Big Data
      • Submit your blog post
    • Events
    • White Papers
    • Industry Press Room
      • Upload Your News
    • New Products
      • Upload Your Product News
    • Conference Guides
    • Conference Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • DCV-TV
    • DCV-TV 1: News
    • DCV-TV 2: Case Studies
    • DCV-TV 3: Webcasts
    • DCV-TV 4: Viewer Contributed
    • DCV-TV 5: Solution Profiles
    • Parcel Forum 2022
    • MODEX 2022
    • Upload Your Video
Home » Ocean carriers see "digitalization" as next frontier for improving costs and efficiency
newsworthy

Ocean carriers see "digitalization" as next frontier for improving costs and efficiency

May 3, 2017
Toby Gooley
No Comments

While membership in carrier alliances—partnerships in which shipping lines share vessels, equipment, terminals, and landside operations—are helping the struggling industry to reduce costs and improve efficiency, the next wave of improvement is likely to come from another direction altogether: "data digitalization," according to speakers on a panel at the Coalition of New England Companies for Trade (CONECT) Northeast Trade and Transportation Conference, held last month in Newport, R.I.

Ocean carriers have participated for years in cloud-based collaboration platforms such as GT Nexus and INTTRA, which automate certain transactions between supply chain partners. They and other collaborative programs continue to upgrade their products and add new capabilities, and their value is not in dispute. But some carriers are looking for additional ways to use technology to improve communications, information accuracy, and data acquisition and sharing.

Perhaps the hottest topic right now is the further automation of trade and finance documentation. A growing number of financial technology, or "fintech," solutions providers aim to make all domestic and international trade transactions, from one end of the supply chain to the other, fully digital and automated. Jay Buckley, executive vice president of Evergreen America, said his company has a relationship with one such firm, U.K.-based essDOCs, a software company that digitizes the creation, approval, and exchange of trade and finance documents.

Maersk Line is looking toward data digitalization to provide efficiencies and improve the customer experience, said David Zimmerman, vice president, North American sales. Maersk and IBM announced in early March that they were collaborating to develop a "blockchain" solution to digitize, manage, and track billions of transactions associated with millions of container shipments annually. Blockchain is an immutable and secure network that allows all parties in a supply chain to digitally exchange information, documents, and payments while viewing every step of a shipment's status in real time, depending on their level of permission. This includes not just trade and logistics activities but also sales, finance, and governmental transactions.

Marrying the flow of goods and the flow of finance in such a secure and transparent way, Zimmerman added, could potentially allow Maersk to do something like advance funds to a shipper and hold a container as collateral.

The solution is based on the Linux Foundation's open-source Hyperledger Fabric program, and Zimmerman said he expects that ultimately all digitized trade will be based on open-source technology.

Maersk is also betting heavily on the Internet of Things (IoT). It is outfitting all of its refrigerated containers with global positioning system (GPS)-based remote monitoring devices to track equipment. One unanticipated benefit of remote equipment monitoring, Zimmerman said, was that real-time information on the containers' locations allowed Maersk to determine whether the ships carrying those containers are speeding up or slowing down. Maersk shares that information with the ships' captains, who can then take action to optimize fuel efficiency, he said.

Maersk is now expanding the remote monitoring program to dry equipment, Zimmerman said.

Transportation Maritime & Ocean
KEYWORDS Coalition of New England Companies for Trade (CONECT) essDOCs Evergreen Marine Corp. GT Nexus IBM Inttra Maersk Line
  • Related Articles

    Are mergers on the horizon for ocean carriers?

    Shippers, carriers trade ideas on improving relations

    Ocean rate outlook for 2014: Steadier, but still plenty of unknowns

Contributing Editor Toby Gooley is a writer and editor specializing in supply chain, logistics, and material handling, and a lecturer at MIT's Center for Transportation & Logistics. She previously was Senior Editor at DC VELOCITY and Editor of DCV's sister publication, CSCMP's Supply Chain Quarterly. Prior to joining AGiLE Business Media in 2007, she spent 20 years at Logistics Management magazine as Managing Editor and Senior Editor covering international trade and transportation. Prior to that she was an export traffic manager for 10 years. She holds a B.A. in Asian Studies from Cornell University.

Recent Articles by Toby Gooley

The forklift of your dreams?

Smart choices for small spaces

National Forklift Safety Day 2022 connects safety with labor challenges

You must login or register in order to post a comment.

Report Abusive Comment

Most Popular Articles

  • Outlook 2023: What’s in store for logistics/supply chain?

  • Ports, maritime operators see tide turning as ocean freight tsunami subsides

  • In Person: Steve Beverly of Penske

  • InPerson interview: Rob McKeel of Fortna

  • Shipping groups back bipartisan trucking overhaul bill

Now Playing on DCV-TV

89cfed30 8aac 4284 960d c8c8c1886e16

Have you checked your read rate lately?

DCV-TV 4: Viewer Contributed
No reads. Unaccounted for boxes. Boxes sent to the wrong place. A logistics nightmare! But this nightmare doesn’t have to come true. SICK’s linear line scan camera is what dreams are made of for your logistics operations. And if you’re worried about motion and vibration from conveyor belts...well, there’s no reason...

FEATURED WHITE PAPERS

  • The five best applications for robotic lift trucks in warehouse environments

  • Fulfillment Facility Improved Efficiencies by 4x

  • 3PLs: Complete Orders Faster with Flexible Automation

  • Reusable Packaging for the New Wave of Supply Chain Automation

View More

Subscribe to DC Velocity Magazine

GET YOUR FREE SUBSCRIPTION
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • NEWSLETTERS
  • ADVERTISING
  • CUSTOMER CARE
  • CONTACT
  • ABOUT
  • STAFF
  • PRIVACY POLICY

Copyright ©2023. All Rights ReservedDesign, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing