Break the eBL silos: TradeTrust creates the open highway for global trade interoperability

This article is brought to you by The Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA).

In Part 1, we outlined how eBL adoption has stalled because today’s platforms operate as walled gardens, making cross-platform transfers costly or impossible. While efforts like DCSA’s standards, ITFA’s DNI work, and select bilateral integrations show progress, they still depend on bespoke coordination and closed arrangements. What the industry needs is an open, neutral “highway” for secure, legally recognised transfer of title across systems – this is where TradeTrust comes in.

TradeTrust: An open, neutral, and decentralised solution

TradeTrust is an open-source framework developed by Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) specifically to crack the interoperability challenge. Unlike proprietary solutions or consortium platforms, TradeTrust is a neutral infrastructure – more akin to a common language or navigation standard that everyone can adopt freely. Designed to enable trade document digitisation and secure trade document exchange, TradeTrust aims to make international trade safer, faster, easier, and more cost-effective.

TradeTrust is certified as a digital public good by the Digital Public Goods Alliance, meeting requirements for platform independence and legal compliance whilst being non-rivalrous (usage doesn’t reduce availability) and non-excludable (accessible to all).

TradeTrust enables legally-recognised Electronic Transferable Records (such as eBLs, eBoE) and other trade documents’ portability across platforms and borders, allowing trading partners their choice of preferred TradeTrust-enabled system and eliminates the need for all parties to join a common digital platform. Acting as a common “highway”, users ofany platform integrated with TradeTrust, can create, exchange verify digitised documents, and transfer ownership of title documents like eBLs on a public blockchain while meeting international standards and legal requirements.

In essence, it is not a platform but offers a common language that any system or platform can easily integrate into their own products.

TradeTrust takes a different approach to interoperability. Rather than passing an eBL from Platform A to Platform B and handing off the “original” status in the process, TradeTrust uses a public blockchain to maintain a single source-of-truth record of title. There is no “handover point” where one platform’s control ends and another’s begins – both can access the same live status and endorsement chain of the document real time. For example, if a carrier issues an eBL as a TradeTrust file, that document’s ownership and uniqueness (singularity) are attested on the blockchain. If the shipper using Platform X transfers the eBL to a consignee on Platform Y, both platforms simply update the blockchain record (via TradeTrust Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)) to reflect the new holder. There is never a danger of two divergent “originals,” and any failure to properly transfer title would be immediately apparent on the shared ledger. This elegantly sidesteps the liability black hole that worries insurers at the moment of inter-platform transfer – TradeTrust prevents ambiguity by design.

Because it is built on open standards (leveraging technologies like the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Verifiable Credentials and Distributed Ledger Technology), TradeTrust allows eBLs to flow across multiple systems without needing to negotiate and program bespoke connectors for every system. A TradeTrust-enabled eBL isn’t locked into one vendor’s format; it can be verified and accepted by anyone with the open-source tools. This is akin to how emails can be sent between any provider or how internet protocols connect all networks – it creates an “internet of documents.” As a Stephenson Harwood legal briefing put it: TradeTrust enables the use of bespoke eBLs across different digital platforms, achieving both technical and legal interoperability for electronic Bills of Lading.

Crucially, TradeTrust is built on a strong legal foundation. It aligns with the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records (MLETR) principles – that a valid electronic transferable record (like an eBL) must have singularity (only one authoritative copy), exclusive control, and integrity.

With MLETR-compliant jurisdictions like Singapore and (as of 2023) the UK enacting laws to recognise electronic trade documents as equivalent to paper, a TradeTrust-enabled eBL can be explicitly governed by statute (e.g. Singapore’s Electronic Transactions Act or the UK Electronic Trade Documents Act). This is a game-changer: statutory law compliance means that parties don’t need to rely solely on private contracts for legal enforceability.  Since TradeTrust is purposefully designed to produce electronic transferable records that meet the MLETR requirements, as long as the TradeTrust-enabled eBL issued by the carrier is governed by a MLETR-compliant jurisdiction such as Singapore, it will be treated as equivalent to a paper bill of lading.

Some other MLETR-compliant jurisdictions includetheUK, France; New York and Delaware in the US; the Abu Dhabi Global Market in the United Arab Emirates and more.

In practical terms, that removes the need for every participant to sign onto a single platform’s rulebook – the rights and obligations travel with the electronic document itself, backed by statutory law.

To bolster this legal interoperability, IMDA recently released TradeTrust Model Terms for eBLs, developed with international law firm Watson Farley & Williams. These model clauses can be inserted into solution providers’ user agreements and the eBL document terms to ensure all parties are aligned. The Model Terms provide a baseline and guide adopters in their applications to the International Group of P&I Clubs (IG) for eBL system approval and serve as a reference framework for adopters to align on crucial legal aspects including interoperability, dispute resolution, and governing law.

The open-source software plus the model legal terms collectively supports the interoperability of electronic transferable records, both technically and legally. In short, TradeTrust now addresses both halves of the puzzle – how systems talk to each other, and how to ensure the law (and insurers) recognise the outcome.

Empowering platforms, not undermining them

Unlike bilateral integrations or proprietary standards, TradeTrust is a digital public good that is open, neutral, and vendor-agnostic. A critical point for shipping lines and digital platform providers: TradeTrust is not a competitor to eBL platforms or trade tech solution providers. Instead, it is offered freely to complement platforms without replacing their user-facing services, functionality, or commercial relationships. Seamless interoperability enables platforms to synergise different product offerings while for their users, it means that their digital documents can reach business partners who are not using the same solution as them. For example, an eBL created on one platform could be used to secure financing from financiers which are already aggregated on another platform.

TradeTrust is an enabling layer – a common highway on which all cars can run. eBL platforms can integrate TradeTrust and continue to offer their own value-added services at the application layer. This integration enables platforms to expand their addressable market and revenue opportunities rather than diminish them.

Consider a shipping line or software provider that has invested in a digital trade platform: historically, you could only serve customers if all counterparties joined your platform. That limited the pool of tradable transactions. With interoperability, your platform’s user could trade digitally with any other company on any other system that also supports the common TradeTrust framework. This means more digital volume overall, and more demand for platform services (since eBLs no longer get diverted back to paper due to incompatible systems). Customers gain confidence that choosing your platform won’t cut them off from partners on other platforms. CargoX, one of the new generation eBL providers, highlighted this benefit after integrating TradeTrust: shippers and carriers “don’t need to worry about picking the right tool” – if all solutions are interoperable at their core, each player can use the platform they prefer and still connect with others. In other words, interoperability future-proofs a platform’s offering.

By leveraging TradeTrust, digital platforms can also streamline legal compliance. For instance, instead of maintaining complex bilateral legal agreements with every other platform, a provider can reference the TradeTrust Model Terms and rely on the fact that the eBL is supported by statutory law. This dramatically lowers the overhead to enable new trading connections. And since TradeTrust is open-source and leverages cryptographic technologies of public blockchain, it avoids any one provider dictating the network. There is no “middleman” taking over the customer relationship – platforms continue to interface with their own users, but now with the ability to exchange documents externally when needed.

Far from eroding business models, this opens new service opportunities. A platform might charge for interoperability features (much like banks charge for out-of-network payments), or build new tools around the data flow once documents move freely. More importantly, more companies will adopt eBLs if they know they won’t be stuck in a silo. The pie of digital trade will grow when customers realise the vast benefits of eBL while remaining in their preferred solutions. This is a customer-centric view: we should let customers choose platforms based on features and service, not lock-in, and interoperability makes that possible.

Intra-platform transactions can of course continue to use whatever proprietary processes or data models a platform prefers – TradeTrust doesn’t dictate internal workflows. For example, if both the shipper and consignee are on Platform X, they might use X’s native eBL format and user interface for the entire lifecycle. TradeTrust acts as a complement for inter-platform or cross-ecosystem exchanges. You can think of it this way: inside a “city” (platform) you use the local roads, but TradeTrust is the highway that connects all the cities. It ensures you can always reach another community if you need to, without each city having to build custom roads to every other.

TradeTrust in action: A cross-platform eBL journey

To make this concrete, let’s walk through an illustrative scenario of how an IG P&I-approved eBL platform could use TradeTrust to extend its reach:

Scenario: Carrier C issues an eBL to Exporter A via “Platform X” (the carrier’s chosen eBL platform). Exporter A will sell the goods to Importer B, who happens to use a different platform (“Platform Y”) to manage trade documents. Furthermore, Exporter A’s bank (financing the shipment) uses yet another trade finance system, and Importer B’s bank is not on either Platform X or Y.

The old way (silos): Without interoperability, all parties would need to join Platform X for this transaction or else revert to paper. Exporter A might have to ask Carrier C to cancel the eBL on X and re-issue a paper BL, just so Importer B and its bank can process it. This would negate all the digital efficiencies. Alternatively, Importer B might be asked to sign up to Platform X (along with its bank) on the fly – a process that can involve legal agreements, onboarding fees, and training, which is not feasible under tight shipment timelines. In short, the digital process would break down simply because participants use different platform providers.

The TradeTrust way: Platform X is TradeTrust-enabled through free and open-source software components, allowing it to generate TradeTrust-compliant eBL files and record the endorsement chain on public blockchain using Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) to represent and enable transfers title ownership, and Smart Contract for enforce exclusive control (i.e. as a holder, possessing that title document).

• When Carrier C issues the eBL to Exporter A, Platform X records that issuance on the blockchain (for example, by writing a hash or unique identifier of the eBL to the blockchain along with Exporter A’s public key as the current holder). When Exporter A needs to transfer the eBL to Importer B, they can endorse it to Importer B’s identifier through Platform X’s interface, without requiring Importer B to join Platform X. Platform X updates the blockchain, indicating Importer B is now the holder and assume title ownership of the eBL.

• Importer B retrieves and verifies the TradeTrust eBL through Platform Y if it is also TradeTrust-enabled, or via a free standalone online service that can verify TradeTrust eBL as a fall back.

• Platform Y checks the blockchain for the proof of Importer B’s title, and uses decentralised identifiers (DID) and digital signatures to verify the source and authenticity of the eBL.

• Importer B’s bank, not on Platforms X or Y, can independently validate the eBL’s authenticity via the TradeTrust network (or through a connected TradeTrust service provider – no need to be on Platform X). When it’s time for Importer B to surrender the eBL to Carrier C at destination, the same process happens in reverse: Importer B surrendered the eBL to Carrier C on Platform X), and Carrier C accepts and releases the cargo.

Legal & insurance comfort: Throughout this process, no additional legal contracts need to be signed between Platform X and Platform Y, or between any parties and a central registry to realise legal effect. Why? Because the eBL carries a set of TradeTrust legal terms agreed by all, invoking MLETR-compliant governing law which legally recognises electronic transferable records. In our example, if the bill of lading was expressly subject to English law, the UK’s Electronic Trade Documents Act 2023 applies, giving the eBL the same legal effect as a paper bill. The IG P&I Club covering Carrier C would accept this, since the TradeTrust Model Terms and recognised law ensure liabilities are equivalent to a paper BL system (meaning Carrier C’s P&I coverage remains intact). There was also no need to onboard Importer B onto Platform X – Importer B interacted via their preferred system. Each platform involved (X and Y) adhered to the common TradeTrust framework, so they “spoke the same language” and trusted the shared source of truth for who held the title. Essentially, statutory law together with TradeTrust’s technical framework replaced the complex web of platform-specific contracts that would otherwise be required to achieve the same result.

This example highlights how TradeTrust can extend the reach of existing eBL platforms. A provider like Platform X can serve its client (Carrier C and Exporter A) as usual, and additionally facilitate trades to external networks via TradeTrust. The eBL is no longer just in Platform X’s silo, but remains secure, trackable, and legally sound. Meanwhile, Platform Y is empowered to support its client (Importer B) without forcing a platform switch. Each party experiences a seamless digital trade, and none of the platforms lost business – in fact, they just enabled a transaction that might never have gone electronic otherwise.

Notably, internal transactions on Platform X could still use Platform X’s proprietary formats and workflows with no change. TradeTrust was only invoked at the point of external transfer. This dual approach – proprietary standards for in-platform, open standards for cross-platform – means platforms don’t have to overhaul their entire system to benefit. They simply add a “TradeTrust module” for interoperability.

Adopting TradeTrust: Easy on-ramp and model clauses

A common misconception is that adopting an interoperability framework like TradeTrust would be arduous. As a matter of fact, TradeTrust is designed for ease of adoption. It is provided as an open-source software, with reference implementations and APIs available for integration. The reference implementations provide info on the creation of sample documents, verification of documents, and technical guides. Developers can access TradeTrust libraries and toolkits on GitHub and the reference implementations on TradeTrust website.

This means the technical team of any business can start experimenting with minimal cost – there are no license fees or proprietary barriers. Essentially, IMDA has done the heavy lifting and made it public: your team can plug in and use instead of building a new bilateral link each time a customer asks for interoperability.

On the legal front, the Model Terms for TradeTrust eBLs provide a shortcut to the legal framework. Platforms and carriers can incorporate these clauses into their user agreements and eBLs so that all TradeTrust-enabled solutions are automatically aligned. The clauses were written to ease approval by the IG P&I Clubs and coupled with the Conformity Assessment Scheme by International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Digital Standards Initiative and Digital Governance Canada, give comfort that the electronic transferable records (ETRs) created using TradeTrust are MLETR-compliant. This removes the need to negotiate a bespoke agreement with every other platform you want to connect with – instead, everyone adopting the Model Terms is implicitly on common ground.

As Watson Farley & Williams (the law firm behind the terms) notes, they include measures for compliance with electronic trade laws and “establish best practices for service providers,” making it “easier, faster and cheaper” to get to yes on TradeTrust eBL. In short, the legal path has been paved mostly.

We’re also seeing real-world uptake that should reassure any hesitant stakeholders. TradeTrust isn’t just a theoretical government project; it’s being embraced by industry players. For example, CargoX, a leading blockchain eBL provider, announced that it has integrated with TradeTrust to enable “seamless document transfers and title of possession between different platforms” for its 135,000+ users. They did this because “interoperability…allows [users] to exchange documents more efficiently while maintaining compliance with international standards”.

Likewise, Chinese platform TradeGo and Singapore’s SGTraDex are leveraging TradeTrust to connect their ecosystems, calling it a “significant stride towards modernising cross-border trade” in an aligned, efficient way. Even global carriers like Maersk have trialled TradeTrust for live shipments – in a 2023 pilot, Maersk issued an eBL via TradeTrust’s public blockchain, and the shipper, banks, and consignee were able to complete a fully paperless trade involving Singapore and India. After that trial, it is highlighted that with demonstrated interoperability across platforms, traders can now get greater access to trade financing through more reliable trade documentation. These endorsements from early adopters underscore that TradeTrust works in practice and delivers value (faster transactions, financing ease, etc.) while keeping everyone’s risk in check.

Future-proofing trade – A call to action

The digital trade ecosystem stands at a crossroads. Major carriers have pledged 100% eBL adoption by 2030, and regulators are removing legal barriers at a historic pace. Achieving these goals requires a collective commitment to interoperability – no single platform can do it alone! TradeTrust offers a ready, battle-tested path forward. It is an open, neutral solution developed in the spirit of collaboration, not competition. By adopting TradeTrust, carriers and digital platform providers can assure their customers that “Yes, you can use our system and still trade seamlessly with partners on other systems.” Governments and policymakers, for their part, should continue to support frameworks like TradeTrust and align national laws with UNCITRAL’s model law, so that the legal certainty underpins the technical connectivity.

This is a call to action for the industry leaders: embrace TradeTrust to future-proof your role in digital trade. By integrating this framework, you accelerate eBL adoption (benefiting all through efficiency and cost savings) whilst positioning your organisation as a forward-thinking enabler of global trade, rather than a gatekeeper. It’s an opportunity to shape new services and revenue streams around interoperability, and to influence the standards that will govern trade for decades to come.

Most importantly, adopting interoperability is a commitment to your customers and partners that you are looking out for their interests. You are telling them that “We will meet you where you are, and we will ensure our digital tools work with yours”. In the fast-changing landscape of trade digitalisation, that assurance is priceless. TradeTrust is exactly the bridge for everyone.

Let’s break down the silos and build an open highway for digital trade documents. Explore TradeTrust, join the growing community of adopters and share your experiences. By collaborating now on interoperability, we can finally unleash the full potential of eBL across global supply chains. The silos had their day – now it’s time for the interoperable network to shine.

We invite your thoughts and experiences: Has your organisation faced the interoperability challenge with eBLs, and how are you approaching it? Do you see open frameworks like TradeTrust as the way forward? Let’s continue the conversation – because only together can we ensure a future-proof, truly digital trade ecosystem.