Maersk – Reinventing Shipping with IoT and Blockchain

Launch a cross-portfolio tagging initiative across ports, vessels, and inland nodes to slash loss and accelerate cycles. Real-time sensor data paired with tamper-evident records delivers measurable gains in reliability and compliance, with published results highlighting improvements in on-time performance and cargo integrity.

In a notable pilot launched in the netherlands, hundreds of containers were equipped with active tags and connected devices, with data streamed to a distributed ledger, enabling end-to-end reconciliation. The program shows improved tracking accuracy to above 98% and an impact measured in the billions of dollars of cargo value, with fewer miss handoffs and misroutes across the chain.

The developing industry needs a basic blueprint for scale: standardize tagging schemas, require cross-partner data sharing, and implement privacy safeguards. When several carriers and terminal operators joined the effort, the innovative design began to lead to faster cargo cycles and complete visibility across the network. This move will help the industry move toward greater efficiency.

Across continents, this approach gains popular traction among shippers, insurers, and regulators, as it reduces risk and lowers insurance loss by improving predictable turn times. Reduced miss events, higher compliance, and more accurate billing are published outcomes other players can replicate, boosting confidence in distributed data sharing across ecosystems.

Recommended actions for executives: 1) appoint a cross-functional steering group; 2) adopt a tagging backbone and lightweight data-sharing contracts; 3) deploy at scale starting with the netherlands and adjacent corridors; 4) measure and publish KPIs related to loss reduction, compliance, and cycle time; 5) align with industry standards to ensure that your systems integrate with existing ERP and insurance workflows.

Practical breakdown of TradeLens components enabling end-to-end visibility and data integrity

Begin by establishing a single source of truth for freight documents across partners to enable end-to-end visibility. Design the data model to tag each event with a unique identifier, reducing the state of mismatched data. Use maersk-ibm governance to control access; ensure document provenance; lifecycle tracking; audit trails.

Core parts include a Document Exchange module; an Event Stream for real-time status; a Distributed Ledger layer for data integrity.

Visibility extends across the ecosystem; netherlands pilots show real-time document exchange drives faster cycles; lets partners share data across paths; cargo status updates propagate in near real time; reinventing the baseline for data fidelity in trade flows.

Whether a small shipper or a large carrier participates, the model remains multifunctional.

Key processes include document creation; event capture; freight status progression; all carried within a single ledger tied to a universal document reference.

To avoid lacking data quality, implement automated checks; provenance validation; cross-border compliance; real-time exception handling; these steps create value.

Partners experience plenty of great advantages; data integrity reduces friction across processes; trust state improves; ecosystem expands across continents; netherlands hub pilots validate the model.

The document layer delivers creation value by preserving audit trails; carriers, freight forwarders trace shipments from origin to destination; capacity planning gains rely on rapid data access; a billion events become searchable in near real time; the state of provenance remains transparent.

In practice, institutions report a tangible advantage at a given level; a shared, multifunctional design enables roles to be flexible; netherlands pilots validate the model; the ecosystem grows capacity to tackle peak loads with ample resilience.

IoT sensor integration: capturing temperature, location, and condition data in real time

Recommendation: deploy a suitable independent sensor backbone featuring distributed nodes; ensure accurate delivery status, traceability.

Capture temperature, location, state data in real time through standardized interfaces at the source; ensure compatibility to existing manufacturers processes.

Operational benefits: scale across a distributed supply network; provide owners with real-time visibility; reduce losses.

Biopharmaceuticals segment; owners state this yields billion-dollar opportunities across existing manufacturers; blockshipping source visibility provides traceability.

Blockshipping source visibility, besides away losses, reduces effort; owners wish to centralize data once baseline accuracy is achieved.

Implementation plan: start with a pilot path on a single route; monitor data completeness; calibrate sensors; iterate toward scale.

Digital documents: turning bills of lading and manifests into tamper-evident records

Implement a single, permissioned digital record layer for bills of lading, manifests; anchor each document with cryptographic hashes; enforce a tamper-evident audit trail; enable online verification by counterparty banks and brokers; define a clear term for revisions. This approach realized a reduction in cycle times, also improves liquidity, reduces costs. Communications between publishers, ports, shippers, insurers must be standardized; use published data schemas to avoid misinterpretations. There exists a keen interest in this term across financial, logistics, carrier communities. Certain deal structures benefit from earlier adoption; netherlands corridors can share a common trail, adding resilience for long-term delivery timelines. There has been concern about data sovereignty there, yet the world market expects better transparency.

Options set includes permissioned ledgers; cryptographic seals; time-stamped event logs; a live dashboard; all published to a common, cross-organization trail. Pilot metrics published monthly include a realized 66% faster turnaround from 72 hours to 24 hours; a 28% reduction in costs per shipment; discrepancies detected within minutes rather than days. Netherlands data centers support resilience; governance aligns to gscp controls. Delivery outcomes across the world rise; this pilot demonstrates option diversity. Rushing to adopt without governance creates risk. Adding data-sharing clauses into contracts reduces dispute times.

Technology options include cryptographic seals; time-stamped event logs; a shared ledger; role-based access. gscp-compliant controls for traceability; data privacy; online verification across the chain. Data, financial considerations influence the design; a common data model covers both. There is already a mature communications layer powering this shift.

Initiate a gap analysis. Select a platform offering tamper-evident features. Run a three-route pilot; measure cycle times; cost per shipment; delivery reliability. Publish results; adjust governance; scale to cross-border flows. Use global KPIs; track currency exposures; expects improvement. Shared training improves communications; stakeholder awareness rises. Realized benefits include faster deliveries; reduced paperwork; lower fraud risk.

Permissioning and data sharing: controlling access across carriers, shippers, and ports

Integrate a tiered permissioning framework anchored in policy-driven access controls; assign roles by participant type (carriers, shippers, ports); enforce cross-domain governance.

1. Policy-driven RBAC: build a permissioning layer for access management; define roles by participant type; attach permissions to data containers based on data characteristics.
2. Container-level access: enable permissioning within data containers; map container characteristics to access rights; enforce least-privilege exposure.
3. Cross-domain governance: establish a lightweight management body; define adoption milestones; align policy with stakeholders across carriers, shippers, ports.
4. Data-sharing strategy: leverage distributed ledger technology to log permissioning actions; ensure traceability through records; guarantee immutability; enable auditability.
5. Scaling framework: start with a limited set of corridors; within six to twelve months expand to millions of container moves; measure adoption, performance.
6. Key objectives: improve management of access rights; deliver faster decision cycles; support independent operation of carriers; reduce data leakage risk.

This model enables scalable, secure data sharing across the transportation supply-chain.

Security and privacy measures: encryption, key management, and anomaly detection

Recommendation: Encrypt data end-to-end for tracking information; store keys in hardware; implement anomaly detection to catch suspicious activity quickly; planning remains quite essential; people within organizations must decide who has access; plenty of roles exist to define responsibility; governance remain challenging; improving security across different teams, especially for high-value shipments.

These controls rely on technologies to monitor risk; automate responses; reduce manual tasks; improving reliability for your operations.

• Encryption in transit: Use TLS 1.3; migrate away from legacy protocols; enable mutual authentication for sensor-controller pairs; enforce strong cipher suites; perform certificate pinning where feasible; monitor certificate expiry as part of planning.
• Encryption at rest: Apply AES-256; consider ChaCha20-Poly1305; protect data stores in servers, devices, mobile gateways using per-tenant keys; rotate keys regularly; enforce secure decommissioning.
• Key management: Deploy hardware security modules; adopt KMIP; define policy-based rotation; enforce role-based access control; implement audit trails; segregate duties.
• Anomaly detection: Baseline sensor readings; monitor terminal activity; review tracking events; apply machine learning models; use unsupervised detection for unknown patterns; generate real-time alerts; tune models with feedback from security teams.
• Privacy and governance: Minimize data collection; pseudonymize identifiers; restrict access via role-based policies; implement retention windows; log access events; perform privacy impact assessments; ensure full life-cycle protection for data from creation to deletion.
• Operational considerations: manual controls for key recovery; have clear recovery processes; training for people; governance for your teams; examples show different approaches across the field; government requirements drive industry standards.

Tracking chains of custody should be anchored by verifiable logs; sensors feed data into terminals featuring tamper-evident storage; creation of keys must be auditable; government guidelines influence industry standards.

Policy ensures you secure securely sensitive data while maintaining visibility.

Security controls should be easily auditable across the full lifecycle of shipments, from pickup to delivery.

Operational impact metrics: dwell time reduction, ETA accuracy, and exception handling

Adopt a real-time data trail across the chain to reduce dwell time by 20-25% within six months; necessary for transparent destination visibility benefiting customers, users. The program consists of many projects across ports, terminals, inland nodes; a breakthrough concept treats data as a product. Fresh sensor data, ericsson connectivity enabled a scalable ecosystem for management, carriers, customers to act on insights. The effort is reinventing data sharing models across the network; the focus remains on being transparent, scalable.

According to early pilots, dwell time reduced from baseline 30 hours to current average near 23 hours, roughly a 23% improvement. Results were consistent across four terminals, nearly all lanes showing positive delta. Management records indicate the trail remains auditable for destination decisions, customer communications.

ETA accuracy rose from 68% within a six-hour window to about 92% within a two-hour window; the shift was enabled by real-time visibility, error forecasting, proactive exception handling. ericsson devices; fresh data streams contributed to the improvement; carriers, customers benefit from forecast stability for planning, being informed in near real-time.

Exception handling improved: 85% of exceptions closed within target, up from 60%. This shift reduces rework; minimizes delays; supports a proactive management approach across the chain.

Recommendations for scale: establish transparent governance; apply a single data trail schema; expand to more ports; leverage the ecosystem; scale management, program, projects; treat data products as assets; coordinate across carriers, ericsson sensors, customers for synchronized actions. Management oversight remains necessary to sustain momentum; the trail must be maintained for traceability and continuous improvement.

Metric	Baseline	Current	Target	Notes
Dwell time per container (hours)	30	23	22	data trail enabled faster decisions; pilots across four terminals; nearly achieving target.
ETA accuracy (within +/- 2 hours)	68%	92%	95%	real-time visibility; ericsson sensors; better planning for customers.
Exceptions closed within target	60%	85%	95%	enhanced alerting; reduced rework; management visibility.