Dubai’s DP World Joins TradeLens Blockchain Shipping Platform

Start digitisation now by joining a shared data network to streamline intermodal flows and cut terminal dwell times.

The Dubai-based operator announced the integration with a global cargo-data system that provides real-time visibility on container status, voyage progress, and transfer events, enabling all parties to coordinate more accurately.

The system uses open APIs from Wärtsilä to link engine and voyage metrics, supporting intermodal transfers and energy optimisation across fleets and terminals.

The alliance also brings in suppliers and logistics partners, with the company wanting to expand by buying data services that improve forecasting accuracy and reduce paperwork overhead for customs.

The approach helps suppliers and carriers adopt digitisation across intraregional corridors and cross-border flows, enabling cross-functional intermodal planning and reducing idle time during peak periods.

Using the open data approach, parties across the consortium can share milestones, container numbers, and ETA estimates, improving planning for manufacturers and suppliers alike, together reducing idle time over peak seasons.

Over the past months, this program has been moving forward, and the network remains open to additional parties, with the company aiming to extend open collaboration to its global partners.

Interoperability and governance are central, with open standards ensuring risk control and predictable data quality across the chain.

Decision-makers should consider adopting interoperable data tools now, aligning with collaborators, and accelerating benefits through the alliance to boost efficiency along intermodal corridors and cut waste.

Practical implications for DP World, TradeLens, and global logistics

Recommendation: Form a broadened alliance around a multisource data ecosystem that links DP World’s terminal operations with Unifeeder and a portfolio of suppliers. Implement white-label dashboards for managers to monitor vessel slots, yard moves, and container status in near real time. Target digitisation efforts to cut dwell times in landside handling by 10-12% and improve berth and yard throughput by 15-20% within 12 months, surpassing previous performance during surges.

For DP World and its ecosystem, the initiative broadens and modernises the data fabric across terminals and inland nodes so they can help them manage supply flows with greater control. mike, a manager in operations, notes digitisation enables faster exception handling and fewer manual handoffs. The alliance expands beyond a single hub, enabling broader geographic reach and more predictable service levels for suppliers and customers alike.

The extended network empowers suppliers to align with chartering schedules and slot allocations, reducing idle capacity and increasing throughput. With Unifeeder and partner carriers, chartering decisions can be made with better insight into demand than before. roland, responsible for regional planning, emphasizes that surges in volumes can be absorbed through spare capacity across multiple geographic terminals, improving reliability for landside operations and hinterland connections for them.

Implementation blueprint: establish a joint program office led by a senior manager, with three workstreams: data standards, cross-terminal integration, and supplier onboarding. Build a set of common data models and ensure compliance with data-protection norms. Roll out in three phases: pilot at one terminal and its feeder networks, expand to other lands in 6-9 months, then scale to the full portfolio within 12-18 months. Track KPIs such as dwell times, on-time pickup, vessel deployment efficiency, and the rate of digitisation adoption across systems. The goal is to achieve a 15-20% improvement in predictability and a 10-15% reduction in demurrage or detention charges, depending on regional constraints. This approach also supports the wants of suppliers to have more stable, transparent processes and helps them to manage inventory, while enabling the company to innovate around similar workflows.

What DP World gains from joining TradeLens for port and terminal operations

Recommendation: using a consent-based, data-centric registry to align shippers, operators, and terminals, delivering real-time visibility, faster landside movements, and digitisation of key workflows.

• Real-time visibility across shipments buys time for proactive scheduling, reduces dwell times, and improves gate throughput.
• Data standardisation across vessels, yards, trucking, and inland transport lowers rework and increases accuracy; currently many carriers have data silos that complicate handoffs.
• Carrier integration, including hapag-lloyd, enables tradelens data exchange for coordinated port calls and inland movements, that increases predictability and reduces container landside delays.
• Consent-based access gives shippers control over who can see what, while ensuring trusted, current data is available to operators and port staff.
• Digitisation of workflows creates a single source of truth that supports the head of operations and portfolio managers; white-label analytics can offer insights to customers and partners from a common data pool.
• Drone-enabled scans and automated yard processes, enabled by sensors, cut manual checks, speed arrivals, and improve accuracy of yard inventories.
• Digital chain of custody enhances traceability for regulators, ports, and customers, enabling them to act on exceptions more quickly and with confidence.
• Tradelens data exchange fosters interoperability with a broad ecosystem, helping landside teams and shippers access consistent information without repeated requests.
• Shippingwatch benchmarks and industry data drawn from the network inform decision making and drive continuous improvement across the value chain.
• Portfolio expansion: smoother onboarding for new clients with governance and data controls that support compliance and scale.

How TradeLens standardizes shipment data: Bills of Lading, manifests, and documents

Adopt a single, machine-readable schema for Bills of Lading, manifests, and related documents to accelerate data flows across companies today. Begin with an initial, minimal core: shipper and consignee identifiers, carrier, vessel, voyage, port of loading, port of discharge, cargo description, quantity, weight, marks and numbers, and signatures. Make governance neutral and open to all parties–operators, carriers, forwarders, and trader networks–so no single vendor controls data. Assign a manager role, with an assistant, to oversee data quality, change control, and access rules, while communications move through email or open messages. Store proofs and edits in a blockchain-based ledger to ensure tamper-evidence, with initial records signed by the submitting company. In ports around today, drone-enabled verifications supplement scanned copies and route data to the neutral ledger. maersks, along with other carriers, joins the network to sign attestations, traders able to pull status via an open API. The approach broadened access for companies, allowing them to request, receive, and store Bills of Lading, manifests, and documents without manual email loops for trader users. kherallah, head of operations, notes that the assistant workflow and a neutral governance model yield faster onboarding and fewer data disputes. With this framework, around today, the system helps open data exchanges, reduce rekeying, and meet demanding timelines in cargo movement.

What integration looks like: API, data mapping, and rollout milestones

Begin with a white-glove API onboarding and a lean data contract, then map core fields to the terminal management schema and lock the first rollout milestone with a clear owner and timeline.

The data mapping plan assigns a manager to coordinate with roland, benjamin, and other stakeholders; it defines consent handling, access rights, and read dashboards, and builds a dictionary covering terminal identifiers, marine details, event types, and related parties. The companys data team maintains the data dictionary to ensure consistency for each terminal and its assets across terminals.

Rollout milestones: Phase 1 – API connectivity and validation; Phase 2 – data mapping finalized with checks; Phase 3 – pilot at three terminals; Phase 4 – broadened adoption across alliance parties, including unifeeder; Phase 5 – scaled rollout to all terminals with continuous improvement. This wave has been designed to absorb surges in cargo and to accelerate benefits for them and for the broader network.

Governance and consent: implement RBAC, audit logs, and an assistant to support head offices and terminal managers in daily decisions. Spare capacity buffers, read dashboards, and a clear consent framework ensure compliance and traceability. Benjamin will sign off on governance, with roland overseeing the technical teams, and the companys stakeholders aligning on the plan.

Economic impact and metrics: the API-driven approach buys time for operators, delivering greater visibility and trackable gains. Increased alignment during surges, better forecasting, and accelerated cycles help modernise operations and broadened collaboration among parties and marine operators, including unifeeder.

Operational readiness and next steps: define cross-functional squads, appoint an assistant for day-to-day checks, and set a cadence for readouts to monitor progress across them. The head of IT and the head of operations will oversee rollouts, while the alliance monitors consent, surges, and performance across terminals and the network of terminals and partners. The plan has been aligned with the core two-way data flow and ensures a sustainable pace for unifeeder and other parties to participate.

Security and privacy: data access, encryption, and auditability on TradeLens

Govern data access with RBAC and least-privilege controls across the tradelens ecosystem: read and move rights are granted only to signed, legitimate parties; access tokens are signed and time-bound; every read event is logged and stored in immutable form; alert staff via email if access occurs from outside home countries; governance aligns with the core development roadmap so operators and terminals can move forward confidently.

Encryption rules: data at rest must be encrypted with AES-256; data in transit uses TLS 1.2+ with forward secrecy; keys managed in hardware security modules; rotate keys on a fixed cadence and revoke access if needed; signed ciphertexts verify integrity; a digital signatures scheme accompanies payloads to authenticate origin; the tradelens core data layer spans multiple platforms and terminals with consistent protection across jurisdictions.

Auditability: maintain tamper-evident logs that are cryptographically signed and timestamped; implement a chain-of-custody across shipments that is jointly monitored by the head offices and terminal operators; logs are replicated across neutral data centers in various countries and can be read by authorized parties; independent white-box audits verify governance and security controls; white papers describe the methods and findings to reassure stakeholders around the worlds. A wave of privacy expectations requires ongoing assessments.

Operational recommendations: establish a shared privacy baseline across platforms to accelerate transparency; implement data minimization and pseudonymization; enable data subject rights requests via secure email channels; set up incident response playbooks and independent annual audits; maintain a white-listed set of trusted operators; ensure cross-border data flows respect the laws of each country while supporting the supply chain’s needs.

Bottom line: the joint development approach aligns the head guidance with the needs of Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd, and other partners; the result is a readable, auditable, and secure chain that helps move goods more efficiently and read with confidence by the parties involved.

Editorial role: how the Editor-in-chief will cover governance and impact

Recommendation: Establish a governance desk under the Editor-in-chief to track policy shifts and their impact on the company, its chartering activity, and its suppliers. The desk will collect press releases and signed documents, with supply data and surges in freight costs, to illuminate what wants of stakeholders are. It will track feeder movements and chains, jointly with assistant mike and the linnet desk, using shippingwatch as a primary feed to ensure access to timely signals that have significant bearing on operations. This approach already brings transparency to maersks and other players and can inform the portfolio’s responses.

Editorial action plan: The Editor-in-chief will publish a weekly governance briefing that translates policy updates, signatories, and instrumented agreements into clear analysis for managers and suppliers. The briefing will reference relevant documents and press coverage, and will compare what different stakeholders wants, including how access to data and signed terms will affect freight costs, service reliability, and spare capacity in feeder networks. Coverage will highlight potential disruptions and the implications for contracts, operations, and the broader supply chain.

Workflow and sources: The assistant mike coordinates a tight acceleration of reporting, pulling from the maersks portfolio, the shippingwatch feed, and the linnet team. The desk will maintain a running log of signed charters, joint statements, and key documents, and will verify claims against public records before publication. This setup preserves credibility while delivering timely context for readers who track logistics cycles and supplier relations.