A major step towards digitalising manual, time-consuming processes powered by Blockchain Technology will offer greater ease of doing business across the supply chain

Colombo, 14 July 2020: SAGT, the first Public Private Partnership (PPP) container terminal in Sri Lanka, also became the first terminal in the country to adopt the Blockchain Technology by collaborating with TradeLens, a digital platform jointly developed by A.P. Moller – Maersk and IBM. This move will help in accelerating the digitisation agenda of shipping industry in Sri Lanka by transforming manual, paper-based and time-consuming administrative processes into digital ones.

SAGT has played an important role in facilitating global trade through Sri Lanka by serving most of the world’s shipping lines with the ambition of empowering the hub aspirations of Sri Lanka. With an annual throughput of over 2 million TEU containers (Twenty-feet Equivalent Units), SAGT is a pivot for movement of cargo through South Asia. The collaboration with TradeLens will allow SAGT to bring together data from the entire global supply chain ecosystem that includes shippers, shipping lines, ports and many more supply chain players from around the world. This data, based on the Blockchain-powered TradeLens platform, will improve operational efficiency through better visibility of container flows across multiple modes.

TradeLens provides visibility across the entire supply chain, from booking to clearance to payments and is built on a wealth of input from the industry including direct integrations with more than 110 ports and terminals, 15+ customs authorities around the world and an increasing number of intermodal providers.