COSCO SHIPPING, Alibaba and Ant Financial entered into a tripartite agreement on strategic cooperation to jointly promote the cooperation on and application of shipping blockchain, and carry out in-depth cooperation based on the global shipping network in the future.

Executive Chairman of Ant Financial Mr. Eric Jing, General Counsel of Ant Financial Mr. Jonathan Zhou, Chairman of COSCO SHIPPING Capt. Xu Lirong, as well as Director of the Board and President of COSCO SHIPPING Mr. Fu Gangfeng witnessed the signing of the agreement. Vice President of Alibaba Mr. Zhong Tianhua, Vice President of Ant Financial Mr. Jiang Guofei, and Director of the Board of COSCO SHIPPING Mr. Wang Haimin signed the agreement on behalf of the three parties respectively.

According to the agreement, COSCO SHIPPING will join hands with Ant Financial to research and promote the deployment of shipping blockchain in China. The two parties will make concerted efforts to facilitate the strategic connection of shipping, ports, logistics and finance based on the blockchain technology, and to realize data connectivity through cross chain cooperation in order to build a platform for systematic cooperation between the upstream and downstream industrial chains. In the field of international shipping and trade, the two companies will work together to continuously expand the application scenarios of shipping blockchain, start research on the basic application data format based on shipping blockchain, and promote the formulation of data standard in the related area. 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 over 50 scenarios, such as merchandise traceability, justice, copyright, public welfare, supply chain finance, asset securitization, and electronic bills.

Mr. 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. By working with COSCO SHIPPING to create a world-leading integrated logistics supply chain, Ant Financial commits itself to making global trade more transparent, unobstructed and efficient.

As the world’s biggest integrated shipping company, COSCO SHIPPING has also been actively riding the tide of digitization, while being dedicated to building a world-leading integrated supply chain service platform. Through deep integration of new technologies, such as big data, blockchain and supercomputing, with the shipping industry, it aims to promote the application of digital technology in the industry, constantly improve its service security and efficiency, and propel the digitized transformation of the industry to provide reliable digitized service for its clients.

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. While trying to turn the shipping industry into a key area of technological progress and industrial integration, the company also looks to play its role in pushing forward the digitized transformation and synergistic innovation of the logistics supply chain.

Heads of the related business groups and divisions of Alibaba and Ant Financial, together with executives from the relevant functional departments of COSCO SHIPPING Lines and COSCO SHIPPING, were also present at the ceremony.