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INSIGHTS

Inna Kuznetsova,

The 130 senior-level shipping executives at the third an- nual Technology Summit at Hamburg in April 24 were told that the industry was moving from innovation into action.

Give us an example of how they could do just that?

The industry today is embracing technology at a higher speed than ever, which results in growing pressure on small IT de- partments and innovation teams to participate in multiple new initiatives. It is even harder to do with a lack of common stan- dards when the new systems, networks and groups duplicate efforts and cannot exchange data freely. We believe the industry may achieve more effcient results by joining efforts to defne such standards and develop some common form of IP to ben- eft everyone and serve as a foundation for individual projects going forward. It is a way to develop differentiation without re-inventing security or data exchange protocols many times.

There are examples of similar, highly successful initiatives in other industries. The Linux initiative, for example, came about through the collaborative efforts of IT companies that resulted in what is now a widely used operating system deployed by companies across the globe for mission-critical applications.

INTTRA has great experience leading joint initiatives in the ocean container shipping industry, and we anticipate do- ing more in the future when appropriate. Let’s take a look at a recent past initiative for an example. The shipping industry nna Kuznetsova is President and Chief Operating Offcer of came together over the VGM initiative started by INTTRA two

INTTRA, leading sales, service delivery, marketing, strategic years ago. In 2016, when the IMO announced an amendment

Ialliances, product management, IT infrastructure and software to SOLAS, it initially seemed like a relatively simple change: development. Before joining INTTRA in early 2015 Inna was SOLAS VGM required that no container will be cleared for the Chief Commercial Offcer at CEVA Logistics and prior to loading onto a ship until the shipper or its designee provides a that spent 19 years at IBM, where in her last role she was the verifed weight to the carrier. In reality, it created havoc across

Vice-President, Marketing & Sales Enablement for IBM Systems the industry as carriers were concerned about the potential im-

Software. Inna holds PhD. in Mathematics from Moscow State pact on their businesses. To address this, INTTRA called for

University, Russia, and MBA from Columbia Business School.

joint efforts with multiple participants and industry leaders.

INTTRA was founded in 2001 as a joint venture between We established regular meetings with key players to develop

CMA-CGM, Hamburg Sud, Hapag-Lloyd, Maersk Line, common standards to share the correct information, as well as

MSC, and UASC to create a standard electronic booking sys- organized around the stated preference to fle VGMs digitally. tem for the ocean freight industry. Neutral from the start, IN-

As a result, two years later, the overwhelming majority of

TTRA has grown into the largest ocean shipping network in VGMs are fled electronically. Due to the common standards the world with over 30,000 active shippers across more than developed by the group, it’s easy to achieve interoperability 200 countries, over 60 carriers and NVOCCs, and more than between multiple carriers and multiple freight forwarders and 150 integrations with transportation management and port avoid waste in terms of costs and the inability of systems to system software partners. According to INTTRA, as many understand each other. Looking forward, INTTRA expects to as one out of every four ocean containers shipped globally is share more ideas and lead more initiatives to help the industry booked through the INTTRA Platform.

move beyond digitalization into the intelligent supply chain.

MLPro sat down with Inna in June to discuss the results and interactions emanating from the third annual Technology INTTRA is the largest neutral network, software and in-

Summit at Hamburg in late April. Here’s what she had to say: formation provider for the ocean shipping industry. First, 14 Maritime Logistics Professional May/June 2018 | |