Hong Kong-based blockchain firm 300cubits announced successful completion of the first trial shipment in its smart contract deployed on the Ethereum blockchain. The shipment consists of two 40-foot high cube container boxes going from Malaysia to Brazil.
A liner company, Malaysia’s West Port and, LPR, a Brazilian textile importer that ships few thousand TEU a year have participated in the trial.
On 15 March 2018, TEU tokens, the “bitcoin of the shipping industry”, held as booking deposit on blockchain have been successfully returned to the users upon receipt of port EDI message on a textile shipment. The shipment booking was confirmed on 8 March 2018, booking deposits in TEU tokens were placed by both the shipper and the liner on 9 March 2018 and returned on 15 March 2018, upon successful completion of shipment loading.
In addition, a consortium comprising AB InBev, Accenture, APL, Kuehne + Nagel and a European customs organization announced yesterday testing of a blockchain solution aiming to eliminate the need for printed shipping documents and save the freight and logistics industry hundreds of millions of dollars annually.
Earlier in 2018, the Prime Shipping Foundation informed that it has been working on a project, that will facilitate the processing of payments and conversion from fiat to cryptocurrencies and back without incurring much additional cost for the customers.
300cubits said it will continue with more live shipment trials with a large group of customers, i.e. liners, shippers, and port operators.
Felipe Bittencourt, CEO of LPR, said:
It was a pleasure to be the first in the world to participate in this trial, for a technology that will change the way ocean shipments are done around the world.
Vijaya Kumar, General Manager of Marketing at Westport, said:
We are strong believer in shipping digitalization, especially when it comes to improving efficiency and providing better services for global supply chain, and supporting the innovations being embarked on by our customers.
In recent months, the internet of money, has been officially “welcomed onboard”, with Maersk, Hapag Lloyd, Evergreen, CMA CGM and Zim agreements explaining how blockchain technology would disrupt shipping. For instance, Hyundai Merchant Marine’s (HMM) first pilot voyage conducted by a blockchain consortium, from Korea to China, with reefer containers from August 24 to September 4, 2017, proves that by adopting blockchain technology, shipping & logistic companies can securely share information and reduce paperwork as well. Moreover, a blockchain platform, built on Microsoft Azure global cloud technology – the first of its kind in the insurance industry – is planned to be implemented. As a result, shipping market eyes the value in cryptocurrency and gets set for taking off over the next years.
