zoomIllustration. Image courtesy: Maersk

The digital shipping platform TradeLens is coming to Russia with the St. Petersburg area becoming the pilot for the launch.

Danish shipping major Maersk and the Russian Ministry of Transport signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the platform’s launch in Russia on June 5.

The blockchain-enabled platform, jointly developed by Maersk and IBM, is expected to significantly facilitate international trade.

“The main result of the implementation of TradeLens, according to our expectations, should be an increase in the transparency of the contracting procedure by distributing information about supply and demand, conditions and operations between many participants of the transport and logistics processes,” Yuriy Tsvetkov, Deputy Transport Minister and Head of Federal Maritime and River transport Agency, said.

The platform aims to facilitate the interaction between shippers and various regulatory and administrative bodies in Russia, ultimately increasing the speed of cargo clearance and movement of goods across borders.

Last month, Maersk revealed that Container shipping giants CMA CGM and Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) would be joining the digital shipping platform, which will result in data for nearly half of the world’s ocean container cargo shortly available on TradeLens.

According to the company, TradeLens is already processing over ten million shipping events and thousands of documents each week, providing shippers, carriers, freight forwarders, customs officials, port authorities, inland transportation providers, and others a common view of transactions.