Blockchain in Logistics Real-life Use Cases

Blockchain was introduced in 2008 and it has become an indispensable tool for many industries. It is also becoming an integral component of the supply chain. Traditional business practices can be updated dramatically through their ability to track the shipment of goods and streamline the management of inventories. A question is however raised about blockchain logistics use cases. Blockchain has been shown by several companies and government organizations to make impressive impacts worldwide on business logistics. An event was held recently by the US Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), which is in charge of the supply chain in all American military branches that focused on how blockchains can be used to improve collaborative efforts within the DLA.

Hurricane Maria was used as a case study by DLA and its Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) team, to identify areas where blockchain could produce improvements in relief efforts in Puerto Rico. DLA experienced wastage of 20,000 pallets of water in the Hurricane Maria relief process along with other difficulties in coordination of responsibilities and tracking of resources which is attributed to the fact that they are currently managing their practices using different agencies. Despite blockchain only being in the discussion phase in DLA, it is capable of saving many lives and decreasing the time needed for the provision of relief services to regions that have been affected by a natural disaster.

Entities involved: U.S Defense Logistics Agency

Project Status: The DLA is currently researching potential blockchain uses in future relief efforts by examining how it could have improved relief efforts in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria.

Sources: DLA press release DHL and Accenture Applying Blockchain for Pharmaceuticals

Close to one million lives are lost due to counterfeit medications each year. DHL which is a global postal provider is working together with Accenture, which is a major technology consulting company to decrease this number using blockchain.  A working prototype was released by this pair which had detailed findings on how pharmaceuticals could be tracked from the point of origin to the consumer, while also preventing any errors or tampering. Keith Turner, from the CIO Chief Development Office, in the supply chain of DHL was very amused by the prototype. He said that great strides can be made by highlighting tampering, lowering the risk of counterfeits, and eventually saving lives, by using the inherent irrefutability present in the blockchain technologies. The prototype was based in six different locations from where pharmaceutical tracking across the chain was done. The chain would be accessible to manufacturers, warehouses, distributors, pharmacies, hospitals, and doctors to ensure the legitimacy of medications and avoid tampering in every step. More than 7seven billion unique serial numbers were handled by the blockchain and 1,500 transactions were performed per second, which reveals the ability of this prototype to trace significant amounts of medications within a small period.

Entities involved: DHL, Accenture

Project Status: DHL and Accenture have developed a working prototype of blockchain, meaning there are only a few more steps before it is ready to be properly implemented into their systems.

Sources: Accenture press release, Blockchain in Logistics Report

CargoX for More Efficient Bill of Lading

A Bill of lading can be defined as a form of receipt that details a list of a shipment of goods, which is given to the entity or person consigning the goods by the carrier of the goods. It can take up to ten days to process paper bills of lading, whereas CargoX by using smart contracts and blockchain was able to cut down that time to four minutes. A pilot project was run by CargoX on the Ethereum blockchain which was shared by four parties that include; the exporter in China, the carrier who was also the logistics provider, the Slovenian consignee, and a release agent. Stefan Kirkman, who is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CargoX, in his praise of the project, said that, since their business had a standard of two-to-ten days, doing it in minutes or even an hour would be regarded as great.

Entities involved: CargoX

Project Status: CargoX has released its platform to the public, and now the company plans to expand the project to function with Letters of Credit.

Sources: CargoX press release

FedEx joins Hyperledger to improve its Services

The CEO of FedEx, Fred Smith May 2018, said that he believed the next frontier for logistics was blockchain. FedEx has even gone further and entered a partnership with Hyperledger, which is a project of the Linux Foundation that is composed of organizations that have the goal of advancing blockchain technology in a collaborative effort. They aim to improve transportation and logistics within the company through the utilization of a distributed ledger.

Entities involved: FedEx, Hyperledger

Project Status: Although FedEx has only joined recently Hyperledger, there must be something in the works, although nothing has been brought to light at the moment.

Sources: Hyperledger press release Ideanomics and Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation Co.

Using Blockchain for Port Clearance

The annual estimate of the total value of exports and imports conducted by Guangdong and Shanghai ports is approximately $ 1.5 trillion. Being one of the busiest ports in the world, Shanghai and Ideanomics in partnership with APMEN Trade Tech Co. plan to streamline clearance processes in its online clearance systems by implementing blockchain. The main function of the chain was detailed by Co-CEO as the integration of business data from various partners and the establishment of a risk control model in association with a single window for the provision of risk control services that will regulate authorities and enterprises. The goal of the project is said to be the improvement of connectivity among cargo hubs to save time and costs of trading.

Entities involved: Ideanomics, APMEN

Project Status: The service is ready to be launched at both Shanghai and Guangdong ports, and the companies hope to expand the service to sixteen other ports currently operated by APMEN.

Sources: Ideanomics and APMEN joint press release

Associated British Ports and Marine Transport International Changing Cargo with blockchain

Associated British Ports (ABP) which owns 21 ports, while partnering with Marine Transport International (MTI), are performing an investigation to find out how blockchain can improve port connectivity and also improve the efficiency of daily operations. Andrew Dunn, who is the head of commissions of ABP, despite his silence on the specific uses of blockchain, said that the provenance of cargo is of increasing importance. He further said that he hoped blockchain would improve the efficiency and speed of their operations.

Entities Involved: Associated British Ports, Marine Transport International

Project status: At the moment tests are being run on the blockchain, and MTI is working to enhance interoperability with existing information systems in the sector.

Sources: ABP press release

IBM and Maersk form TradeLens, a New Blockchain Company

Now that the uses of blockchain are being realized by many companies, TradeLens is a company formed by Maersk and IBM to commercialize the blockchain technology. These two companies are looking forward to cutting down the time associated with paperwork, which sometimes causes wastage of perishable goods. The World Economic Forum conducted a study that showed that streamlining information through blockchain had the capability of increasing trade by around 15%. This potential was intended by Maersk and IBM to be made a reality using TradeLens.

Entities involved: IBM, Maersk

Project status: TradeLens currently has 92 participants and is expected to be released sometime in 2019.

Sources: IBM press release, TradeLens

Blockchain is used by United Parcel Services (UPS), for more efficient package delivery and it is hoping to provide cheaper, faster, and more transparent shipping to its customers. The blockchain-based patent filed in August that they were awarded pushed them one step closer to their goal. It was described in the patent that UPS could begin working on a blockchain that could simultaneously track shipments and find the most optimal route for delivery, without any human interactions. The necessary payments required by the third-party shipping companies, who may come into contact with the blockchain would also be performed. UPS hopes that the blockchain will cut down the time and costs linked with package shipping, which will provide the customers with cheaper and quicker service in the long run.

Entities involved: UPS

Project status: Although UPS has been awarded the patent, UPS chief engineering and information officer Juan Perez, told the Wall Street Journal that he does ''expect significant benefits'' from blockchain in 2019. So although the company may be testing blockchain projects, it is highly unlikely that we will see anything in 2019.

Sources: UPS' Blockchain patent application

Walmart making leafy greens safer with blockchain

Walmart is the world's largest retailer and has released their food chain in association with IBM, and are now giving their leafy greens suppliers until September to upload their data to their chain. Letters detailing the process of joining the Walmart Food Traceability Initiative were sent by Walmart to their suppliers. The blockchain idea is to prevent foodborne illness outbreaks which are associated with leafy greens like the 2018 outbreak of Escherichia coli.

The consumers will eventually be allowed to view the whole history of their leafy greens, from a farm to a store shelf using the blockchain. It will be much easier to detect the starting point of the Escherichia coli outbreak using blockchain; hence Walmart will only remove the tainted greens rather than their entire inventory from the shelves.

Entities involved: Walmart

Project status: Suppliers have been given until September 2019 to update their data onto the blockchain, which means that the adoption of blockchain in the food industry will grow rapidly in 2019

Sources: Walmart's letters to suppliers, press release. Swiss Post and Modum Improve Temperature Monitoring of Pharmaceuticals

Modum released a press regarding the partnership between Swiss Post, Switzerland's national postal services, and a blockchain developer based in Zurich, that it would provide players in the pharmaceutical sector with a scalable and reliable process that monitors the state of goods. The temperature of the pharmaceutical products being shipped is monitored by the MODsense, which uses Modum's temperature-logging devices which are paired with the Swiss Post's track-and-trace system. The purpose of the blockchain is to ease the burden brought about by new regulations concerning the temperature conditions of pharmaceuticals when they are being transported.

Entities involved: Swiss Post, Modum

Project status: MODsense has been finished, and is currently available through Modum.

Sources: Modum press release, MODsense press release

OpenLedger Solutions

The cases of using blockchain in logistics are abundant, as shown above. The use cases of blockchain will increase and improve as more businesses adopt its use. An extensive list of the use of blockchain by perfectly pairing with business logistics and improving security and making data more transparent is provided by Openledger.

Did you like this example?

583

24