Copenhagen — The world’s largest container shipping firm AP Moller-Maersk is teaming up with IBM to create an industry-wide trading platform, based on blockchain technology, which it says can speed up trade and save billions of dollars. The global shipping industry has had little innovation since the container was invented in the 1950s, and cross-border trade still leaves an enormous trail of paperwork. The success of the platform, which will be made available to the shipping industry around mid-2018, depends on whether Maersk and IBM can convince shippers, freight forwarders, ocean carriers, ports and customs authorities to sign up. Blockchain technology powers the crypto-currency bitcoin and enables data sharing across a network of individual computers. It will help manage and track tens of millions of shipping containers globally by digitising the supply-chain process from end to end, the companies said. "The big thing missing from this industry to digitise and unleash the potent...
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