COSCO SHIPPING has signed a cooperation agreement with e-commerce company Alibaba and its FinTech affiliate Ant Financial to digitalize the shipping supply chain.
The Chinese firms will research and promote the deployment of shipping blockchain in China, working to facilitate the connection of shipping, ports, logistics and finance based on the technology, and to realize data connectivity through cross chain cooperation to build a platform for systematic cooperation between the upstream and downstream industrial chains. Moreover, they will also strengthen cooperation in intelligent shipping, intelligent ports, and supply chain finance, pushing forward the digitization of shipping operational procedures and documents.
Ant Finance leads the world in terms of the number of its blockchain patent applications and authorized patents. With many breakthroughs accomplished in transaction performance, privacy protection and cross chain connectivity, the company has expanded the commercial use of blockchain into more than 50 scenarios, such as merchandise traceability, justice, copyright, public welfare, supply chain finance, asset securitization and electronic bills.
Eric Jing, Executive Chairman of Ant Financial, said that through the deep integration of “logistics and technology”, he expects to see that blockchain technology can help facilitate asset digitization and multi-party cooperation in the area of logistics so as to promote the digitization of the international logistics industry.
As the world’s largest integrated shipping company, COSCO SHIPPING has also been actively riding the tide of digitization, while being dedicated to building an integrated supply chain service platform. Chairman of COSCO SHIPPING Capt. Xu Lirong noted that the company hopes to deepen cooperation with various parties on such new technologies as blockchain, IoT and 5G, to promote the seamless connection and smooth flow of cargoes, funds and information between the upstream and downstream industrial chains. The company also looks to play its role in pushing forward the digitized transformation and synergistic innovation of the logistics supply chain.