Agility, a global provider of third-party logistics services, has joined the blockchain collaboration of IBM and Maersk, companies said Tuesday.

As previously announced by CoinDesk, IBM and Maersk unveiled in January their global commerce scanning platform, based on the Hyperledger Fabric 1.0 blockchain. DuPont, Dow Chemical, Tetra Pak, US Customs and Border Protection and others piloted a first version of the project.

The last participant, Agility, will share and receive information on individual shipments via the blockchain in the hope of reducing the massive administrative and documentation costs – which would represent a fifth of the costs of the expedition. annual shipping of $ 1.8 trillion.

"Blockchain technology will make navigation cheaper, safer and more reliable … As adopted, companies like Agility can help Maersk and IBM understand the needs of shippers and develop standards that will make trade more efficient. " Essa Al-Saleh, CEO of Agility Global Integrated Logistics, told American Shipper.

Al-Saleh said blockchain technology could streamline shipping by showing the status of documents such as customs forms and bills of lading, which helped to reduce the time needed for shipments to clear inspections. The migration of shipping information to the blockchain could also facilitate a more complete risk analysis.

Other blockchain shipping initiatives are underway, including those related to trade finance, product sourcing, and consolidation of business processes. However, as American Shipper points out, the emergence of a multiplicity of projects can be detrimental to the end, as they may develop simultaneously, but separately, potentially creating a fractured system similar to the one at the time. existing.

Image of shipping container via Shutterstock

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