The Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA), a transportation consortium, formed in August 2017, for the development of blockchain standards and education for the freight industry, plans to have the first standards for the development of blockchain applications issued within this year.
‘Blockchain’ is a term used to describe a shared digital ledger – essentially blocks in a chain – that relies on the consensus of all individuals in a given network to operate and, more importantly, modify. As such, falsifying data in the blockchain is next to impossible.
Earlier this week, Canadian logistics company Purolator announced it joined the BiTA alliance, aiming to play an important role in developing common blockchain standards for the freight industry and in educating the industry about blockchain technologies and applications.
Ricardo Costa, Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Purolator, said:
The applications for blockchain are endless and will provide the shipping and logistics industry with never-seen-before benefits. This is because the technology enables complete end-to-end visibility into the entire life cycle of a shipment transaction and all its connected parts. For example, vendor management, loss prevention and security, and billing and payments are just some of the transportation areas that blockchain can be applied to.
Last week, independent blockchain advisory Chainworks also joined the alliance.
BiTA was formed by experienced tech and transportation executives from trucking, shipping and logistics companies, to create a forum for the development of blockchain standards and education for the freight industry. In May 2018, the membership will reconvene at the BiTA Spring Symposium to discuss standards development and implementation.
