MOL Joins Consortium on Use of Blockchain Technology for Trade-related Data
- Proactively Participating as Total Logistics Company in Demonstration Test for Practical Application of Blockchain Technology -

August 28, 2017

TOKYO-Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL; President & CEO: Junichiro Ikeda) today announced its determination to participate in the "Consortium to develop trade data sharing platform using blockchain technology," in which NTT DATA Corporation (headquarters: Koto-ku, Tokyo, President & CEO: Toshio Iwamoto) serves as the administrative office. The consortium is comprised of 14 trade-related companies such as banking, insurance, total logistics providers and export/import companies.

Current trading practices rely heavily on bills of lading and other documents. This creates burdens such as additional time to complete procedures and requires additional labor and costs.
This program aims to increase convenience for customers by using blockchain technology to make information flow more smoothly through corporations and across business categories and making trade-related office procedures swifter and more efficient.

The formation of this consortium is Japan's first initiative on using blockchain technology on trade-related operations. (Note 1)

As stated in its "Rolling Plan 2017" management plan, MOL emphasizes closely monitoring trends in ICT technology and takes a proactive stance in introducing cutting-edge technologies.

[ Outline of Consortium ]
Corporations representing trade-related industries in banking, insurance, total logistics, and import/export trade cluster to study measures to address issues crossing over corporations and business categories, through PoC (Note 2) aiming at practical ways to use blockchain technology to streamline the flow of trade information.

Period: August 2017 – March 2018 (plan)
Details to study:

• Addressing obstacles to practical use
• Validation of applicability for practical use including operational efficiency
• Study of systematization in the future, etc.

[ Participating companies: 14 in total, alphabetical order ]
Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd.
Marubeni Corporation
Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL)
Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company, Limited
Mizuho Financial Group, Inc./ Mizuho Bank, Ltd.
Nippon Express Company, Ltd.
NTT DATA Corporation
NYK Line
Sojitz Corporation
Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Insurance Inc.
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation
The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd.
Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co., Ltd.
Toyota Tsusho Corporation

(Note 1) NTT Data survey

(Note 2) It stands for Proof of Concept. It is a process to quantify effects and risks by verifying the feasibility of a concept in advance, when trying an innovative approach to improving a process.