INTTRA, the ocean shipping electronic marketplace, announced a 17 percent increase in container volume for the first half of 2016 over the same period in 2015.

The number of container orders on its core transaction platform grew to record levels, the company said.

INTTRA’s 17 percent container volume increase compares to less than four percent growth in overall market container volume year over year through May 2016, according to Container Trade Statistics. INTTRA’s container volume does not include container volume processed through the INTTRA eVGM Service that transmits messages from more than a thousand shippers to 47 ocean carriers in order to facilitate compliance with new International Maritime Organization (IMO) container weight requirements, which went into effect on July 1, 2016.

“INTTRA is generating rapid growth by focusing on meeting our customers’ and the industry’s needs in our unique role as the only neutral transaction and data platform in ocean,” said INTTRA’s CEO John Fay. “The global shipping industry has reached a tipping point where digital shipping management is now a competitive necessity and INTTRA’s comprehensive platform is meeting their needs.”

INTTRA, soon marking its 15th anniversary, is the world’s largest neutral platform enabling world container trade and generating valuable data used by customers for shipping optimization and operational excellence improvements. To assist customers with a better visibility of their cargo, INTTRA sends more than 180 million unique container status events worldwide annually.

In addition to its rapid growth, INTTRA had one of the richest periods of product introduction in its history during the first half of 2016. This included an introduction of cloud-based products such as INTTRA eVGM Service and a new web user interface that integrates ocean schedules, container booking requests, shipping instructions, and web bill of lading with a common user experience. The portal’s functionality was enhanced with the dangerous goods submission and compliance with national regulatory requirements features.

New Decision Support Dashboards already help some of the top global shippers with container status event visibility and detention and demurrage reductions.

The value of INTTRA’s portfolio enhancement and market leadership is further recognized by a 15 percent increase over 2015 in the number of its alliance partners, including the partnership with the software provider JDA announced earlier this year.