Commonwealth Bank saw the future of global logistics in the distributed ledger technology

Australia’s largest loan company, Commonwealth Bank, reported a “new blockchain experiment in world trade.” For its implementation, the bank has attracted several companies as partners, including the agricultural group Olam Orchards Australia PTY Ltd. Pacific National was responsible for transportation of goods on the territory of Australia. In addition, the experiment drew in the management of the port in Melbourne, stevedoring company Patrick Terminals, as well as ocean carrier OOCL Limited. Technical “filling” of the project was organized by the Australian company LX Group, whose activities are focused on the development of software for working with the Internet of things (IoT).

The essence of the experiment was to use the blockchain to record and monitor the process of transporting a batch of nuts weighing a total of 17 tons from the Australian province Victoria to the port of Hamburg in Germany. To do this, Commonwealth Bank introduced a new blockchain platform, which involved creating smart contracts, as well as using the IoT technology. The technology of the distributed ledger was used together with the traditional way of organization of the delivery process from a producer to a final consumer. With the help of the blockchain platform, three key aspects of global trade were digitalized: operations on the movement of goods, the corresponding document flow, and finances. All the project participants could monitor all the main parameters of cargo transportation, including air temperature and humidity level inside containers. This became possible thanks to the four installed IoT devices, information from which was transmitted to the blockchain.

The result of the blockchain platform work was highly appreciated by the bank, which stated that such a partnership between parties, participating in logistics operations, would represent the future of world trade. Chris Scogall, the head of the bank’s department of customer service in logistics, noted that the blockchain solution had shown its effectiveness in terms of reducing costs and improving transparency of processes. He also said that Commonwealth Bank was convinced that blockchain could help their partners to reduce the burden of administrative costs, as well as to provide the highest level of service to its customers. This point of view is shared by the bank’s partners. Thus, Emma Roberts, logistics Manager at Olam Orchards Australia Pty Ltd, noted that trade inefficiency could be a very negative factor for their business, so it was very important to turn to new technologies in order to improve processes of supply. The presented blockchain platform demonstrated that through the cooperation of all participants, the goal of improving the efficiency of logistics was achieved.