Hong Kong port platform expands into trade finance

The system targets SMEs that face high financing costs and slow loan approvals.

Hong Kong’s Port Community System is expanding beyond cargo visibility into trade finance, with plans to help banks assess loans using shipment data and attract 10,000 more users over the next year.

The feature would target small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that face high financing costs and slow loan approvals, Venus Lun, special project director at Logistics and Supply Chain MultiTech R&D Centre Ltd. (LSCM), told Hong Kong Business in an email in response to questions.

The platform is expected to introduce a trade finance function within the next two years that will use cargo information to support faster credit assessments by lenders.

Lun said the system would rely on blockchain technology to verify deliveries and provide real-time updates on vessels, trucks, customs clearance, delayed containers, and temperature-sensitive cargo.

Hong Kong’s Transport and Logistics Bureau launched the system in January to connect maritime, port, and logistics data. Developed with LSCM, the platform, which has more than 6,000 registered users, also reduces duplicate data entry for trade declarations.

Lun said the platform aims to add another 10,000 users within the next 12 months.

Anna Lin, CEO at GS1 Hong Kong Ltd., said the system could boost financing decisions by linking cargo information with internationally recognised product, company and location identifiers.

“This gives financial institutions and banks reliable alternative data for know-your-customer and credit assessment,” she said in an emailed reply to questions.

The platform’s potential extends beyond lending. Ryan Ip, vice president at Our Hong Kong Foundation Ltd. and executive director at the Public Policy Institute, said cargo insurers could use the data for underwriting, claim validation, and premium adjustments.

“Data timeliness and cargo tracking will also allow logistics providers to make predictive plans for storage and trucking instead of reactive, last-minute arrangements,” Ip said in an email.

Oliver Miloschewsky, head of shipping for Asia at Aon Plc, said the system could reduce cargo dwell times, improve coordination between logistics operators, and strengthen responses to congestion and weather disruptions over the next 12 to 24 months.

He added that the Port Community System could support cargo flows across the Greater Bay Area, where shipments increasingly move through multiple ports, including Shenzhen and Guangzhou.

Adoption, however, will depend on industry support for data sharing and common standards.

“At the same time, increased digitalisation introduces new forms of interconnected risk, particularly around cyber resilience and system dependencies,” Miloschewsky said.

Ip warned that a major power failure could disrupt cargo clearance and delivery schedules, whilst Lun said cybersecurity measures would continue to be upgraded as the platform expands connections with third-party systems.

“Predictive functions will also be developed later once we collect and validate sufficient industry demand and use cases from our registered users,” she said.