Thursday 02 / May / 2024
Muscat: Cubex Global, an Omani startup, funded by Oman Technology Fund (OTF), has won the UpLink Ocean Solutions Sprint (Marathon of Innovative Oceans’ Solutions award), in a competition launched by the World Economic Forum which aims to come up with the best innovative technology-based ideas to save the oceans.
Fifty participants from 15 countries took part in the competition which was won by the three-member Omani team which included Hood Al Hawqani, Hamza Al Kharousi and Sheikh Ihsan Tariq.
Called Cubex Global, their startup aims to reduce global shipping emissions by up to 20 per cent by facilitating trade of unused container space on existing cargo ships routes.
More than 100 million shipping containers are 50 per cent empty while travelling from port to port, a massively wasteful practice that results in 280 million tonnes of carbon emissions and costs $25 bn every year.
Cubex is an innovative opportunity for world's shipping sector, which uses a real-time blockchain-enabled online marketplace to optimise empty cargo space on any container heading to any destination.
Since its launch in October 2019, Cubex platform has reserved 5,100 shipments worth more than $100,000, and received investments from international funds as well as the Oman Technology Fund valued at $750,000.
