As container shipping lines look to follow the Maersk example and team up with technology companies to develop a blockchain platform, analysts have warned that not all stakeholders are looking at deploying the same blockchain solution and platforms.
This can pose a challenge if stakeholders are expected to trade via a common platform or solution, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst, Rahul Kapoor. Media reports last month pointed out that APL, in conjunction with Anheuser-Busch InBev, Accenture, a European customs organisation and other companies had tested a blockchain-based platform.
IBM and Maersk are currently testing their blockchain platform which they describe as “a fully open platform whereby all players in the global supply chain can participate and extract value”.
Kapoor pointed out that blockchain would be the biggest innovation in the industry since containerisation. “It basically brings more transparency and efficiency. The container shipping lines are coming out of their shells and playing catch-up in technology,” he said.
And should these platforms succeed, the cost of moving goods across the ocean could drop significantly as documentation that could take days would be available within minutes as users on the platform would have direct access to it. However, the undertaking was as massive as the potential upheaval it would cause, he said.
“The container shipping lines will need to persuade the ports and other organisations involved in cargo trading to adopt their systems.”
Hundreds of related businesses around the world — including manufacturers, banks, insurers, brokers and port authorities — would have to work out a protocol that could integrate all the new systems onto one vast platform, he added.
