Blockchain technology – a chain of blocks – is used to store and transmit information about transactions on the Internet, which are arranged in the form of successive blocks of data. In the Port of Rotterdam, this technology is used, among other things, for “paperless” document flow and cargo monitoring.
ABN AMRO, Port of Rotterdam and Samsung SDS have become part of the Blockchain Deliver platform for good. The cooperation of these companies concerns several aspects of transport, from financing, through guarantees and insurance, to monitoring and full documentation. It was recently reported that the first transported container had travelled this full ‘path’ from the supplier in Korea to the warehouse in Tilburg, the Netherlands.
Deliver is a pioneering blockchain-based supply chain management initiative. It is a transactional platform with distributed architecture. It ensures adequate confidentiality of information and at the same time protects data against external interference, e.g. attempts at falsification.
In this case, blockchain technology also enables interoperability, container tracking, processing of necessary documentation, and financing can be done in a trusted, secure way.
New technologies, such as blockchain, can take over supply chain management completely and ‘disrupt’ traditional ways of doing things.
As the Proof of Concept (PoC) document revealed, the supply chain management ecosystem with full, seamless integration of everything related to administration and finance is quite real. At the same time, it promotes process automation, providing benefits to all actors in the supply chain.
In the case of the Port of Rotterdam, in addition to access to current fully reliable information to facilitate decision-making, it is also a matter of practically eliminating the tons of documents that accompanied the movement of cargo in its traditional form.
The participation of banking institutions is interesting.
Trade flows are often used to secure credit. We are strongly committed to helping our clients fully automate their trade flow processes. All parties involved in the trade flow will benefit from more effective controls, greater efficiency, transparency and traceability,” explains Edwin van Bommel, Chief Innovation Officer at ABN AMRO (ABN AMRO bank specialises, inter alia, in trade financing).
The Deliver platform was presented a few months earlier, in March this year. It was presented as a combination of Ethereum blockchain and Hyperledger Fabric. Deliver, in fact, combines different types of blockchain platforms supporting, among others, notarisation of documents, prevention of double payment and transfer of assets.
The blockchain system in Korean Customs is based on Hyperledger Fabric, while the Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands uses the Ethereum platform. We started the Deliver project to connect different platforms,” said Han Seung-Yeop, manager at Samsung SDS (TokenPost).
The aim of the first joint implementation was to verify individual elements of the system (contact with many shippers from different industries and operation in different commercial areas). The possibilities of integrating the various stages in the supply chain were examined: from flow management combined with tracking of loads, through complete digitalisation of documentation (paper documents were practically eliminated), to all financial aspects of the entire operation.
These measures have made the supply chain more transparent and efficient and, in the long term, will also bring measurable, quite considerable savings to the participants.
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