Chances are few people outside of the global shipping arena have ever heard of a Chinese digital information system called Logink.

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It may be time for more people to pay attention.

On its web site, Logink says it is a “one-stop logistics information service platform.”

According to the Wall Street Journal, Logink says it collects data from a number of public databases, augmented by data inputs from more than 450,000 users in China and many ports across the globe. That includes data from countries opting in to China’s Belt and Road initiative, its trillion-dollar international infrastructure project.

“Control over the flow of goods and information about them gives Beijing privileged insight into world commerce and potentially the means to influence it,” the Wall Street Journal piece notes.

Valuable at any time, such detailed information on trade and global transportation flows has become even more valuable given delays and congestion at ports globally and shortages of many products and components.

China launched Logink in 2007 as a government owned service provider, now managed by its Ministry of Transportation. It started by collecting cargo data and trade information from shipping, trucking and manufacturing companies operating in China.

A few years later, Logink struck deals with some other ports in Asia, promising faster trade flows. It later has connected with ports buying in to the Belt and Road initiative and cargo databases in Europe and the Middle East.

All that data now available to China through Logink could give it not only advantage in an economic context, but perhaps surprisingly from a military vantage as well.

How?

It turns out that the US military sends equipment to commercial ports across the globe. The Journal quotes a spokesperson for its logistics arm, called the Transportation Command, as saying that with the ambitious Belt and Road program, “China is seeking to enhance its visibility into the global supply chain, including US military logistics.”

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Naturally, the Chinese government-controlled Global Times publication saw things a different way.

“Simply put, the [Wall Street Journal] article wants to convey the message that China's digitalization advantage in integrating public shipping data could serve the interests of Chinese companies to the detriment of others,” the Global Times wrote, adding "But its baseless claim actually highlights the US-style hegemonic mentality of deeming anything out of its own control as risky.”

Countering that view, Mees van der Wiel, a consultant at Portbase, the digital data network of the Port of Rotterdam, Europe’s largest port, said “The most obvious risk of Logink is that it can help Chinese companies grow faster because of its data insights.”

The controversy comes as the global shipping sector looks to modernize and digitize.

The global logistics industry remains heavily reliant on paper-based documents, with shippers often sending paperwork about ocean shipment to its destination by air. The Wall Street Journal notes that international cargo can pass through more than 40 different entities, such as freight handlers, customs authorities and port and terminal operators, with each using different information systems.

The lack of integration means a reliance on paper documents still prevalent as we are ready to start 2022.

And many of the multiple players in that chain are reluctant share data that might give competitors an edge.

But that same principle applies to nations as well, as logistics companies – which is why the focus on China’s Logink is now gaining increased scrutiny in Washington DC.

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