IBM and Maersk Ready Blockchain Technology

Maersk and IBM have announced a new collaboration to use blockchain technology to help transform the global supply chain.

News ID: 72834

Date: 06 March 2017 - 15:33

The technology will be made available to the shipping and logistics industry to help manage the paper trail of tens of millions of shipping containers across the world by digitizing the supply chain process from end-to-end, MANA correspondent reported.

It is expected to enhance transparency and facilitate secure sharing of information among trading partners. It is designed to help reduce fraud and errors, reduce the time products spend in the transit and shipping process, improve inventory management and ultimately reduce waste and cost.

When adopted at scale, the solution has the potential to save the industry billions of dollars, says IBM.

The costs associated with trade documentation processing and administration are estimated to be up to one-fifth the actual physical transportation costs.

IBM and Maersk intend to work with a network of shippers, freight forwarders, ocean carriers, ports and customs authorities to build the new global trade digitization solution, which is expected to go into production later this year.

Blockchain, an immutable, security rich and transparent shared network, provides each participant end-to-end visibility based on their level of permission.

Each participant can view the progress of goods through the supply chain, understanding where a container is in transit. They can also see the status of customs documents, or view bills of lading and other data.

Detailed visibility of the container’s progress through the supply chain is enhanced with the real-time exchange of original supply chain events and documents. No one party can modify, delete or append any record without consensus from others on the network.