US raises alarm as Chinese platform corners market on global shipping logistics
- Warnings that Beijing could ‘gain access to and control massive amounts of sensitive’ data, including the commercial transport of US military cargo
- Logink, overseen by China’s transport ministry, collects information on shipping and cargo movement worldwide and provides free tracking and data management
US lawmakers and experts in the field are raising alarms about China’s dominance in accessing and managing global shipping logistics and data, describing such control as a security risk and “a recipe for disaster”.
The latest in a series of warnings is a report published in July by the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank. The research highlights the Chinese commercial logistics platform Logink, which collects information on shipping and cargo movement worldwide and provides tracking, data management and other services free of charge.
Logink, which describes itself as a “one-stop logistics information service platform”, began as a provincial programme in China in 2007. It became part of a regional network in northeast Asia in 2010 and a global platform after 2014.
Overseen by China’s transport ministry, it partners with over 20 ports globally, including in Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Portugal, Spain and in countries across the Belt and Road Initiative – China’s global infrastructure project – as well as many Chinese and international firms.
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The network continues to expand as more ports worldwide use Logink to provide “greater global visibility that China can potentially access”, according to the research.
“The pervasiveness of China’s state-supported commercial logistics platform provides the constant monitoring of port capabilities and throughput of US cargo and our allies and partners during peacetime,” it said, adding that multiple freight movements globally contain US military consignments, and logistics data could predict current or future operations.
