Russian authorities have signed an agreement with Danish logistics giant Maersk to officially launch blockchain shipping platform TradeLens, according to a press release on June 6.

As a part of the agreement, the port at Russia’s second-biggest city, St. Petersburg, will pilot the blockchain-powered logistics tool co-developed by Maersk’s tech subsidiary Maersk GTD and global tech giant IBM.

The agreement was signed in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Maersk CEO Søren Skou and Yuriy Tsvetkov, Deputy Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation and Head of the Federal Marine and River Transport Agency, the press release notes.

Signed on June 5, the MoU enables the launch of TradeLens across all of Russia in order to adopt blockchain-powered digital documentation to replace the currently mostly paper-based transportation operations. The plans for the agreement were first revealed in February 2019.

By deploying TradeLens, the port of St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest port and the main container gateway, is expected to maximize transparency for multiple processes including contracting procedures by distributing data about supply and demand, Tsvetkov said at the signing ceremony.

According to the press release, the TradeLens platform now includes over 100 participants and processes 10 million global shipping events to date.

In late May, two major global shipping firms, Mediterranean Shipping Co. and CMA CGM, joined the TradeLens platform, which reportedly meant that 50% of all global marine cargo was then tracked with blockchain technology.

Yesterday, Cointelegraph reported on Swiss forwarding and logistics services company Panalpina launching blockchain pilots to improve multiple processes on the supply chain.