NTT Data has completed proof of concept phases including 14 Japanese logistics and financial companies, and interoperability with Singaporean and Thai national trade and customs platforms, as part of its plans to create an international trade data sharing platform.
NTT Data has been a participant in consortiums such as the Hyperledger group investigating use cases for the Ethereum blockchain, and since 2016 has been focused on the information flow of trade processes, particularly letters of credit and insurance documentation.
These investigations have led it to develop plans for a pan-Asian trade data sharing platform, by integrating major players in cargo owners, maritime companies, banks and insurance companies, initially in Japan, with existing national trade platforms, such as Singapore's NTP.
Participants of the most recent proof of concept phases conducted this year are:
Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Marubeni Corporation, Mitsui OSK Lines, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company, Mizuho Financial Group, , Nippon Express Company, NYK Line, Sojitz Corporation, Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Insurance, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ., Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co. and Toyota Tsusho Corporation.
NTT Data says it has already built a prototype system with 55 functions and 83 APIs, verifying the use case with actual past trade data from its partners as well as samples.
This year it will continue to work on legal and implementation issues - including a review of regulatory gaps related to the originality of physical documents translated into a blockchain environment. But it expects through 2019 to be working closely with more major trading countries in the Asia Pacific region as it tries to realise the full digitization of trade procedures.