Global Shipping Business Network (GSBN), a neutral, not-for-profit consortium enabling paperless, accessible and sustainable global trade, has announced that it has launched a new pilot to enhance the digital sharing of documents and certificates for dangerous and critical cargo transportation.
After successfully implementing the digitalization of safe transportation certificates for over a year, the pilot was carried out by COSCO Shipping Lines and GSBN in December 2024 in partnership with Longxing Chemical Stock.
As industry best practice, cargoes such as carbon black should be certified as safe to transport before they are accepted by shipping companies. The current process burdens customers with complex document submissions during the booking process. Carriers are inundated with documents and certificates without a secure and efficient processing method.
Longxing Chemical is a key player in the production of high-grade carbon black for rubber products, a flammable material used extensively in the manufacturing of tires.
Longxing partnered with COSCO to streamline the booking and acceptance processes of this product using GSBN’s blockchain-enabled infrastructure. Longxing provided COSCO with safety certifications, which were promptly verified through the growing network of China National Accreditation Service for Conformity Assessment (CNAS) accredited testing laboratories on GSBN.
Bertrand Chen, CEO of GSBN, said, “We’re seeing pioneering carriers and customers increasingly harness technology to take proactive action to further enhance the booking processes for dangerous and critical cargo. This is important given the rising demand of the global trade of chemicals and the associated increases in fire incidents on vessels and at ports.
“GSBN is ready to partner with carriers and customers to respond with a framework and the infrastructure necessary to help enhance safe transportation by facilitating trusted information exchange. At stake, it is the need to balance the increasing demands of global trade with the safety of crew and the impacts on the environment.”
Over the past year, GSBN has established connections with major CNAS-accredited laboratories in key locations across China, forming a robust foundation for an ecosystem supporting the testing requirements of carriers and customers. In early December 2024, CVC Testing Technology, a laboratory doing lithium battery testing, joined the GSBN ecosystem as the consortium’s fifth laboratory member, further expanding carriers’ access to primary test reports.
The aim is to develop a new framework harnessing GSBN’s infrastructure to enhance the booking processes for dangerous and critical cargo, as well as set new standards across the industry to prevent fires and explosions on vessels and terminals across the world.
