Maersk, IBM shut down blockchain-enabled supply chain project due to lack of commercial viability

Danish shipping giant Maersk and multinational technology company IBM have announced they are discontinuing TradeLens, their joint project citing its lack of ability to operate as an independent business.

TradeLens was a collaborative project by both entities that sought to use blockchain to improve the supply chain industry. The project was founded in 2018 and achieved several victories by gathering a number of high-profile clients, but four years later, TradeLens seems to have run out of steam.

According to a statement from the TradeLens team, the entire platform is scheduled to go offline before the end of the first quarter. But in the days leading up to the shutdown, customers have been assured they will be “taken care of without interruption to their business.”

Rotem Hershko, Head of Business Platforms at Maersk, noted that TradeLens was founded on the vision to change the scope of global supply chain digitization by creating a transparent platform.

“Unfortunately, while we have developed a viable platform, the need for full global industry collaboration has not been achieved,” Hershko said. “As a result, TradeLens has not reached the level of commercial viability necessary to continue its operations and meet its financial expectations as an independent business.”

Although the curtain has fallen on TradeLens, both parties are optimistic about the future, saying that distributed ledgers will improve processes in the industry. Maersk stated that it will continue its quest to spark innovation in an effort to “reduce trade friction.”

“We will leverage the work of TradeLens as a springboard to further push our digitization agenda and look forward to leveraging the energy and capability of our technology talent in new ways,” Hershko said on behalf of Maersk.

Distributed ledgers permeate all industries

Blockchain has made inroads into virtually every industry, with proponents claiming that its revolutionary features of transparency and decentralization are game changers. In gaming, popular companies such as Konami and Sega are looking to incorporate the technology into their upcoming titles to compete with new Web3 game developers.

Blockchain is being explored by central banks and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) for its potential in cross-border payments, while research laboratories believe the technology could be the key to securing energy grids from bad actors.

Meanwhile, national governments are also increasingly relying on blockchain, with India, the Philippines and Thailand looking to increase adoption levels for the technology. Other uses of blockchain include deployment in election campaign processes, issuing digital identities and storing the educational records of individuals.

See: BSV Global Blockchain Convention panel, Re-Inventing Business with Blockchain

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