News

Major container liners invest in new digital platform

Source: Shippingwatch

August 22nd 2017

Four of the world’s largest container carriers like CMA CGM and Hapag-Lloyd are investing in the new trade platform New York Shipping Exchange. The project has received USD 13 million so far.

Four of the world’s largest container carriers have teamed up with Goldman Sachs and GE Ventures to invest USD 13 million in the first round of financing for the new trade platform New York Shipping Exchange NYSHEX. The new electronic platform has been launched as a link between shippers and shipowners to simplify the process of entering standardized contracts and securing the cargo flow. In a statement, NYSHEX promises that with the contracts entered on the platform, shippers are ensured a degree of reliability over 99 percent.

“CMA CGM welcomes the digital innovation that NYSHEX is bringing to the container shipping industry. Digitalisation is essential to offering our customers new and differentiated products. This partnership is one more step in CMA CGM’s digital transformation, aiming to continuously create added value for its customers,“ says Rodolphe Saadé, CEO of CMA CGM. For Hapag-Lloyd, the investment in NYSHEX is an attempt to reduce the uncertainty in the industry. “Hapag-Lloyd invested because we believe NYSHEX can help solve the challenge of unreliability and unpredictability that affects everyone in the container shipping industry, by ensuring commitments are met by both sides,” says Thorsten Haeser, Chief Commercial Officer of Hapag-Lloyd. NYSHEX has an office in New York, as implied by the name, and is headed by Gordon Downes. The board is chaired by Jesper Præstensgaard, who has a long career behind him with Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd. Other board members include Bjørn Vang Jensen, Vice President of Global Logistics at Electrolux, and analyst Lars Jensen from SeaIntelligence Consulting.