Other than the financial services industry, one of the most positively disrupted sectors for blockchain technology is logistics. But properly marrying blockchain technology into the logistics sector is a monumental undertaking. Does SmartContainers have what it takes to excel in a field with high barriers to entry and low adaptation to new innovations? Lets find out!

SmartContainers — The Project

SmartContainers is a Swiss technology company geared towards providing incredibly safe temperature-controlled containers for foods and pharmaceutical goods.

What is the problem that needs solving?

Technology in the shipping sectors has long been a determining factor in progression of trade around the globe. Since the end of World War II, the sum of world exports and imports as a percentage of world GDP has skyrocketed, from 15 percent to almost 65 percent.

As the transportation of consumer goods becomes more sensitive, the needs for reliable infrastructure for this transportation rises. This rings doubly true for perishable, temperature sensitive things such as food and pharmaceuticals. These items generally need a higher level of secured handling and transport, and this challenge weighs on the manufacturers themselves.

$1.1 trillion of pharmaceutical products are shipped annually around the world, and over a quarter of those require special transportation and care. Additional spending for this temperature control is over $13 billion per year.

Yet, these logistics networks and packaging products don’t meet the requirements and needs of these sensitive products. The WHO has estimated that 40% of vaccinations degrade in transport due to temperature issues. This causes a reduced effectiveness and decreased usability.

For food distribution, the guidelines and needs are similar, with demand for fresh food skyrocketing in developing nations. Home delivery services such as HelloFresh and Blue Apron add another layer of logistics challenges for perishables.

SmartContainers’ Solution: Redefining Temperature Control, Pushing Boundaries

An already existing product — The SkyCell One

SmartContainers is not new to the scene. They have been working on logistics problem solving for almost a decade. They have achieved success in pharma logistics with SkyCell, currently the fourth largest pharma container provider on earth with a strong client base and strategic partnerships with Emirates and Cargolux. SkyCell is poised to release a game changing direct to patient refrigerated mini-container called the SkyCell One, promising 72 hour temperature stability while mobile.

SmartContainers is additionally working on expanding into food logistics with their ancillary division FoodGuardians, currently in phases of negotiating partnerships with industry power players. FoodGuardians’ big draw is a step away from traditional one-way Styrofoam boxes, opting instead for reusable, lighter, more advanced options.

SkyCell has various other products available

Their container-based innovation is structured upon new insulation technology that is not only built to reflect maximum radiation and minimize conductivity of heat, but also be 100 percent recyclable. This new and improved insulation option stores five times the energy of traditional containerized insulation.

In addition to container-based technological advancements, SmartContainers also has an incredible software design, allowing the company to trach and trace position, temperature, humidity, and condition of all containers, regardless of where in the world they are. This is done through a massive infrastructure of gateways and sensors at all logistics hubs they serve.

The software runs on blockchain technology, and has turned the the Smart Containers group of companies into the largest air freight fleet of IoT enabled containers in the world. Their combination of hardware, software, and services already provide the lowest failure rate in the refrigerated logistics industry.

All this provides clients compliance, insight and security previously unheard of in the refrigerated logistics niche.

SmartContainers’ Need for Blockchain Technology: LOGI CHAIN

For scalability of both SkyCell and FoodGuardians, SmartContainers has made the decision to approach cryptocurrency as a funding solution. As part of their proposition, they are working on a disruptive and revolutionary project for logistics and financial impacts.

It has become apparent the complexities and inefficiencies of logistics overall. For example, shipping one container between Switzerland and China takes over 200 separate forms of documentation and communication to get from door to door. Things like origin documentation, bills of lading, customs clearance, invoicing, and more are involved in this process.

SmartContainers sees a strong opportunity to develop an integrated and seamless decentralized logistics ecosystem to eliminate much of the documentation and communications needs. This ecosystem, dubbed LOGI CHAIN, will also work to automate billing of containers with both smart contracts and cryptocurrencies.

With this, a physical container is mimicked as a chip on a blockchain infrastructure, available for low costs to all users. Documents and communications are linked to this chip, and made accessible to necessary parties throughout the process. Some documents are public, others are private and will require permissive blockchain structures.

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To bring this innovative vision to life, a highly experienced A-team is necessary. Who the driving forces behind Smart Containers are will be addressed in tomorrows article.

Next up: The Team & Advisors