Four major ocean container freight carriers have formed the Digital Container Shipping Association (DSCA) to create common information technology standards for the industry.
A.P. Moller – Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd, MSC and Ocean Network Express (ONE) established the DCSA in The Netherlands after gaining regulatory approval from the Federal Maritime Commission last month. Thomas Bagge, who has been involved in various transformation activities in Maersk, was appointed as CEO.
“ONE is constantly seeking best practices and standards to support and drive innovation technology in the shipping and logistics industry to create valuable opportunities for digital transformation,” Noriaki Yamaga, managing director of corporate and innovation at ONE, said. “To realize these goals, concrete discussion and solid collaboration work must be done in order to standardize solutions, establish common IT standards and governance for the industry to streamline and digitize shipping process to shape the future of the shipping industry. We truly believe that the establishment of this association will bring values, benefits and opportunities to our customers, as well as logistics companies, leading shipping and logistics industry to new ecosystem of digital supply chain.”
The association said digital standards are a priority and it will immediately start working on driving standardization, digitalization and interoperability. To create value quickly and to overcome some of the biggest pain points in the industry, one of the first projects is focusing on standards to overcome the lack of a common foundation for technical interfaces and data.
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In addition, the association is creating an industry blueprint for processes to develop a foundation for the future of shipping. The work undertaken will be for the benefit of the entire industry, as all standards will be openly published, making them available free of charge to interested external parties.
The association’s headquarters will be located in Amsterdam, where it can benefit from neutrality and a centralized global location. The proximity to shipping infrastructure, attractiveness for talent as well as ease of reach were also decisive points for selecting Amsterdam as the location for the headquarters.
DCSA is in discussions with multiple other container shipping lines around the globe that are interested in joining.
Andre Simha was named chairman of the supervisory board of the DCSA. Simha is chief information officer of MSC. The rest of the supervisory board consists of Adam Banks, chief technology and information officer at A.P. Moller – Maersk, Martin Gnass, managing director of information technology at Hapag-Lloyd, and ONE’s Yamaga.