Key facts
- China's LOGINK platform, intended to digitize global shipping data, has stalled internationally.
- LOGINK faces domestic lawsuits over unpaid bills and its operations hub in Wenzhou appeared abandoned.
- US officials feared LOGINK could be used to gather sensitive trade and military shipment information.
- A US State Department spokesperson stated Washington would not allow Beijing to "gain a chokehold over global maritime data."
- South Korea and Japan stated that data shared via LOGINK was limited to vessel arrival/departure times and cargo loading/unloading, not contents.
Four years after the United States warned that China was developing a trade superweapon in the form of its LOGINK platform, the venture has suffered a significant reversal, according to a Reuters report.
LOGINK, formally known as the National Transportation and Logistics Public Information Platform, was designed to streamline global shipping by creating a digital system for exchanging logistics data. However, its flagship global partnerships have stalled, it has withdrawn from an international maritime association, and it is reportedly mired in domestic lawsuits over unpaid bills.
When a reporter visited LOGINK's operations hub in Wenzhou, China, in September, the offices appeared abandoned. Calls and emails to LOGINK went unanswered, and China's transport ministry declined to comment on the platform's status.
US officials and security experts had expressed concerns that Beijing could use LOGINK to gather non-public information on traded goods, volumes, and pricing to benefit Chinese firms and potentially track sensitive military shipments. A LOGINK official, Li Zhao, stated in a 2024 submission to the US Trade Representative’s Office that the platform lacked the capacity to collect sensitive commercial information or continuously monitor global cargo movements.
A US State Department spokesperson affirmed Washington's stance against Beijing controlling global maritime data, stating the US has prohibited LOGINK's use across its own government and critical port infrastructure and urged allies and industry to take the threat seriously.
LOGINK began two decades ago as a local government project in China’s Zhejiang province and later gained backing from policymakers in Beijing. International expansion became a priority, with cargo data-sharing deals struck with Japan and South Korea in 2010, and an agreement with a Hong Kong-based logistics platform in 2015 that reportedly gave LOGINK access to over 90% of global ship tracking data. The platform also explored collaborations with European ports.
A turning point came in April 2022 when LOGINK joined an international data-sharing project. However, US policymakers began publicly pushing back, with Republican lawmakers urging then-US President Joe Biden to act against LOGINK, citing concerns about the Chinese Communist Party gaining a stranglehold on global trade. In late 2023, Representative Michelle Steel urged the International Port Community Systems Association (IPCSA) to cut ties with LOGINK, and Congress passed a law prohibiting Pentagon contracts with LOGINK-connected entities.
Officials in Seoul and Tokyo indicated that the data shared via LOGINK was limited to vessel arrival and departure times and cargo loading/unloading information, not details on cargo contents.
LOGINK's retreat became evident when its participation in IPCSA ended in 2024 after it stopped paying membership dues, and its website went dark. The international data-sharing project is now on hold. China's service with South Korea and Japan has also faltered, with China abruptly canceling a scheduled event in March 2024. Japan later lost access to LOGINK data without notice.
Efforts to expand into Europe also yielded little, with MOUs signed with Portugal's Port of Sines in 2017 and Portbase (Port of Rotterdam) in 2019 leading to no significant outcomes or progressing beyond exploratory discussions.