It would take a magic wand, at least for the time being, to create a complete, end-to-end, integrated digital flow of trade finance that includes letters of credit (L/Cs), according to Akhil Nair, senior vice president for global ocean freight at global logistics and freight solutions provider, SEKO.

In an interview with global management consultants McKinsey, Nair also spoke about ongoing disruptions to supply chain infrastructure, such as the slowdowns at the Panama and Suez canals; responses to deal with supply chain disruptions, and how much attention logistics gets in boardrooms.

Connect banks with industryAsked what he would do if he could wave a magic wand and make a big change that would help the logistics industry better respond to disruption in the future, Nair provided a three part answer.

His first wish is to electronically connect the financial markets with the industry. "There are still too many barriers there. A complete, end-to-end, integrated digital flow could eliminate a lot of the manual requirements that go into enabling moving cargo - from the L/C to the bill of lading to the release of cargo to visibility and tracking," Nair said.

"Having that all in one clean data flow would make trade more efficient and also more resilient, because it takes away lots of the blind spots," he added.

Free trade and sustainability

Global free trade would also help according to Nair, who says a lot of countries seem to be heading toward protectionism. "It's more difficult to nimbly, quickly solve for disruption when you're dealing with protectionist trade tariffs," he says.

Nair's last wish would be to "magically switch all ocean and air transportation to sustainable fuel and stop heating up this planet. In the long term, that might reduce some of the weather-induced disruption we're seeing," he concludes.

The full interview with Nair, SEKO's head of ocean freight on the AI future, can be found here.

This article represents the views of the author and not necessarily those of the ICC or Coastline Solutions.