Barcelona PCS integrates data with maritime technology leader TradeLens

PORTIC, the port community system (PCS) at the Port of Barcelona has integrated its data with TradeLens, the blockchain-enabled digital logistics platform jointly developed by A.P. Moller-Maersk and IBM.

This integration means the exchange of information in real time to allow greater detail about the operations that take place in Barcelona’s port, contributing to more transparency on the logistic change.

The Port Community of Barcelona includes 500 companies, many of which work with the Portic system, which telematically manages more than 31 million document exchanges per year.

As a result of the data the integration, PORTIC and TradeLens services are fed back, offering a better quality of information in real time, with data such as the actual departure or arrival of the ship at the port of origin or destination, among others, according to a statement.

TradeLens said this exchange of information means greater digitalisation, transparency and security in operations, making it possible to make more accurate forecasts and to offer a better service to customers.

PORTIC is the first and only PCS in Spain to be integrated with the TradaLens platform, consolidating the strategy of the Port of Barcelona and its Port Community to continue advancing as a smartport. However, the ports of Barcelona, Valencia, Bilbao and Algeciras, the shipping company Boluda Lines and now the logistics company Grupo Carreras are already part of TradeLens.

“PORTIC Barcelona and TradeLens have developed an alliance where both entities benefit by exchanging information in an authorised way by the shipping companies,” stated Javier Gallardo, director of PORTIC, who went on to explain, “With this alliance, both companies complement each other’s services, providing them with more information and incorporating new filters on the information that result in the quality of the data. The technological model used allows immediate communication of events and occurrences in the transport chain, which is a differential aspect with other integration models already existing in the PCS of the Port Community of Barcelona.”

TradeLens is an open and collaborative industry platform built on blockchain technology, which promotes an efficient, transparent and secure information exchange to foster greater collaboration and trust throughout the entire global supply chain.

Launched in 2018, the TradeLens ecosystem now includes direct integrations with more than 300 organisations, extending to more than 10 ocean carriers and encompassing data from more than 600 ports and terminals. Additionally, it has already tracked over 35 million container shipments, close to 2 billion events and roughly 16 million published documents.