LOGINK Explained: How And Why China’s Shipping Data Platform Lost Global Momentum

China’s effort to build a global digital platform for sharing shipping and logistics data has lost momentum, with its key international partnerships stalled and the system facing financial and legal problems at home.

The platform, known as LOGINK, was developed to bring together logistics information from ports, customs authorities and third-party transport services, with the aim of making cargo movements easier to track and replacing paper-based processes. But what Beijing presented as a way to modernise global trade raised security concerns in Washington, where officials feared the system could give China access to sensitive commercial and military shipping information.

According to Reuters, LOGINK’s international expansion has since stalled. Its flagship global partnerships have weakened, it has left an international maritime association and it has become involved in domestic lawsuits over unpaid bills. A Reuters reporter who visited the platform’s operations hub in the Chinese coastal city of Wenzhou in September found the office apparently abandoned, with the lights off, a bare reception area and computer cabling stripped out.

Calls and emails to LOGINK went unanswered, while China’s transport ministry declined to answer questions. The ministry did, however, issue a policy document in June calling for LOGINK to be connected to more domestic data streams.

What Is LOGINK And Why Was It Created?

LOGINK is formally known as the National Transportation and Logistics Public Information Platform. It began about two decades ago as a local government project in Zhejiang province, designed to improve the coordination of cargo movements by bringing information from ports, trucks and logistics vendors into a single searchable system.

The project later received backing from policymakers in Beijing, who transferred control of LOGINK to China’s transport ministry. Its ambitions soon extended beyond China, as the government sought to connect the platform with logistics information systems in other countries.

In 2010, China reached a cargo data-sharing agreement with Japan and South Korea that linked LOGINK with their national logistics information platforms. A few years later, LOGINK signed an agreement with a Hong Kong-based logistics platform that, according to a LOGINK press release, would give it access to “more than 90% of global ship tracking data.”

A 2015 presentation by China’s transport ministry to a United Nations commission described LOGINK as a “one-stop portal connected with global logistics information systems.”

By the late 2010s, LOGINK was also exploring cooperation with European ports.

Why Did LOGINK Become A US Security Concern?

The same data-sharing system that China promoted as a logistics tool raised concerns in Washington because of the information that could potentially be assembled through it.

US officials and security experts feared that access to information on traded goods, cargo volumes and pricing could give Chinese companies an advantage over Western competitors. They were also concerned that LOGINK could potentially be used to track sensitive military shipments moving through commercial freight networks, including US arms deliveries to Ukraine and Taiwan.

According to Reuters, the US concern was not limited to what individual ports might share with LOGINK. It also centred on the possibility that information from different logistics systems could give Beijing a broader picture of international trade and cargo movements.

LOGINK has not publicly disclosed the exact nature or scale of the data it collected. In a 2024 submission to the US Trade Representative’s Office, LOGINK official Li Zhao said that it lacked “the capacity to collect sensitive commercial information or to continuously monitor global cargo movements.”

Washington nevertheless viewed the platform as a potential strategic risk. A US State Department spokesperson said the US would not allow a platform controlled by Beijing to “gain a chokehold over global maritime data.”

“We have prohibited its use across our own government and critical port infrastructure, and we urge allies and industry to take this threat with the same seriousness,” the spokesperson added.

How Did LOGINK Expand Beyond China?

LOGINK’s international ambitions became more significant in the early 2020s, particularly when it began joining international initiatives designed to connect digital logistics systems.

A key development came in April 2022, when LOGINK joined an international data-sharing project linking operators of digital platforms used to exchange cargo and customs information at ports. The US commission that later examined LOGINK said its participation would double the platform’s cooperation with international ports.

That development intensified concern among US policymakers. Several months later, Republican lawmakers urged then-President Joe Biden to take action against LOGINK. The group included Marco Rubio, who is now Trump’s Secretary of State.

The lawmakers warned that unchecked expansion of LOGINK could allow the Chinese Communist Party “to gain a stranglehold on the arteries of global trade”.

In late 2023, then-Representative Michelle Steel also asked the International Port Community Systems Association (IPCSA), which had spearheaded the data-sharing project, to immediately end its ties with LOGINK.

Congress also passed legislation around that time prohibiting the Pentagon from entering into contracts with LOGINK-connected entities. The law further directed US officials to discourage allies and partners from using the platform.

Reuters reported that the US pressure coincided with LOGINK’s efforts to expand its international relationships. Randall Schriver, chair of the US congressional commission that issued a 2022 report on LOGINK, said Washington contributed to the platform’s reversal by “naming and shaming” organisations that used it.

How Much Data Did LOGINK Actually Receive?

The extent of LOGINK’s access to international cargo information remains unclear, and this is an important part of the debate surrounding the platform.

Washington’s concerns focused on the potential for LOGINK to provide a broad picture of cargo movements and commercial activity. But governments that had worked with the platform said the information they shared was considerably more limited.

Officials in Japan and South Korea told Reuters that their cooperation with LOGINK did not involve detailed information about the contents of cargo.

South Korea’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and Japan’s transport ministry said the data made available consisted of vessel arrival and departure times, along with information about cargo loading and unloading.

At the same time, LOGINK has not publicly disclosed the full nature and scale of the information available to it through its various international arrangements. That leaves a gap between Washington’s broader concerns about the platform’s potential and the more limited data-sharing described by some of its international partners.

What Happened To LOGINK’s Global Push?

LOGINK’s international expansion has now stalled.

Its flagship global partnerships have stalled, while the platform has withdrawn from an international maritime association. At home, it has also become involved in lawsuits over unpaid bills, adding financial and legal problems to the difficulties surrounding its international operations.

According to Reuters, the reasons for LOGINK’s decline remain unclear. Reuters could not establish why a platform that China’s cabinet had described as a “key project” lost momentum and became caught up in financial and legal difficulties.

The timing, however, is notable. LOGINK’s international retreat coincided with US efforts to pressure governments, industry groups and international organisations that had taken steps towards working with the platform.

That timing does not establish that US pressure caused LOGINK’s decline. It does, however, place the platform’s retreat against the backdrop of a broader US-China contest over control of the infrastructure and technologies supporting global shipping.

What Happens To LOGINK Now?

While LOGINK’s international expansion has weakened, China’s transport ministry has indicated that the platform could have a continued role inside the country.

In June, the ministry issued a policy document calling for LOGINK to be connected to more domestic data streams. That points towards a greater focus on integrating the platform into China’s own transport and logistics networks, even as its international ambitions have stalled.

The shift matters because shipping is central to global trade. Maritime transport carries about 80 per cent of world trade, making the systems used to manage and exchange shipping information strategically important.

Reuters reported that the platform’s decline is therefore a setback for Beijing’s broader effort to gain influence over the physical infrastructure and technologies underpinning global shipping. For Washington, meanwhile, LOGINK’s retreat removes one source of concern over Chinese involvement in international maritime data systems.

For now, LOGINK’s international expansion has stalled, while China’s transport ministry has called for greater integration of the platform into domestic logistics data systems. Its retreat from overseas partnerships marks a shift for a project that Beijing once sought to connect with logistics networks around the world.