ABN Amro, the Port of Rotterdam Authority and Samsung SDS are joining forces for a pilot with blockchain technology. The parties are aiming for more transparency and efficiency in the logistics chain with the pilot.
The development of the pilot has been invested in the BlockLab set up by the Port of Rotterdam Authority. "At the moment, payments, administration and the physical transport of containers are still almost completely separate circuits," explains Paul Smits, chief financial officer, Port of Rotterdam Authority. "That leads to delays and inefficiencies because there are many parties involved and everything goes through paper documents. For example, a container transport from China to Rotterdam now involves an average of 28 parties. Transporting, tracking and financing goods and services should become as easy as ordering a book online."
Shipper's perspective
In the pilot, the companies will integrate all those flows: from workflow management in combination with track & trace to the digitisation of paper documents such as the transport letter and the financing of traded goods or services. Daphne de Kluis, CEO Commercial Banking at ABN AMRO: "The ultimate goal is to arrive at an open, independent and global platform based on the shipper's perspective. This will make logistics chains more transparent, more efficient and save millions of euros in the long run."
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To create this, the companies rely on blockchain technology. The technology allows all parties in a logistics chain, through validated data and without centres of leadership, to have activities coordinated. "Extra special about the project is that, for the first time in the otherwise still short history of this technology, we are letting different blockchains operate with each other. This is done through an umbrella 'notary' that connects the completely separate blockchains in Korea and the Netherlands," explains Sanghun Lee, President of Samsung SDS EU/CIS.
Pilot
The pilot involves multi-modal transport of a container from a factory in Asia to a location in the Netherlands. Initially, the pilot will be carried out by the three parties, but after that, the partnership is open for other parties to join. The pilot will start in January next year and the results will be announced in February 2019.
