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Smart Containers ICO Review: A comprehensive review and analysis on Smart Containers ICO, which aims to disrupt the logistics supply chain.

This represents the writer’s personal opinions and does not – in any way- constitute a recommendation of an investment or financial advice. Please assume caution when investing in cryptocurrencies and do so at your own risk, as it is extremely volatile and you can lose your money.

Overview

Smart Containers aims to disrupt the logistics sector through the creation of temperature-controlled containers for pharmaceutical and food products across the supply chain. The objective is to eliminate the paper trails and allow for the automation of their innovative containers through smart contracts and their native cryptocurrencies . Smart Containers Group is an established technology firm with 2 operating businesses;

Skycell: Specialize in developing temperature-controlled containers for transporting sensitive medicinal products for the pharmaceutical industry FoodGuardians: Specialize in developing temperature-controlled containers for transporting food products across the globe

Current Issues

Smart Containers is conceived to solve the following problems:

Wastage of Medicinal Product Due to Temperature Deviation: According to World Health Organisation (WHO) statistics, up to 40% of vaccines were compromised due to temperature deficiencies during transit. Affected vaccines have to be thrown out.

According to World Health Organisation (WHO) statistics, up to 40% of vaccines were compromised due to temperature deficiencies during transit. Affected vaccines have to be thrown out. Inefficient Paper Trail: The logisitical process is extremely inefficient and complex, requiring hundreds of different paper documents just to send a parcel from a country to another. Additionally, coordinating communications among stakeholders along the process takes up a huge amount of resources.

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Applications

Smart Containers aims to create an integrated logistics ecosystem – called Logi Chain – backed by blockchain technology that will be seamless for the industry and stakeholders. Logi Chain will be an open logistics ecosystem that will facilitate shipment organization and administration through the use of blockchain technology. This will allow us to create a fully autonomous container that invoices itself through cryptocurrencies.

Here is how the process will work:

Virtual Representation: A physical logistics unit – which can be a container, parcel or product – is replicated as a virtual product represented by a virtual chip on Logi Chain Virtual Chip: The chip is virtual and can be attained by all stakeholders at minimal costs Embedded Data: Various data, documents and attributes relating to the product can be embedded in the chip and made accessible to the relevant parties in the supply process. For instance customs officers, freight forwarders, contractors, shippers, buyers, warehouse workers.

A key distinction of Logi Chain is that not all documents can be publicly available to all participants, with sensitive and private documents being stored on a permissioned blockchain. The different parties in the shipping process will access the documents through an open source reader.

Competition

At first glance, Smart Containers look to be similar to Modum, which offers blockchain-backed temperature sensors for medicinal products. Upon further analysis, both projects cater to different niches within the same market. Modum focuses on data integrity and immutability, ensuring the sensory data pertaining to each stage of the transportation process is transparent and available to all stakeholders, especially customers. Smart Containers, on the other hand, focuses on the development of the temperature-controlled containers. Both are looking to target the pharmaceutical market but seems to be complementary rather than competitive. In fact, both Smart Containers and Modum are currently exploring a partnership . Here is an in-depth review on Modum .

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Unique Differentiator

Natural Blockchain Fit: Smart COntainers already have a successful business with decades of man-hours in developing their logistical container technology. Migrating to a blockchain-based solution seems to be a natural fit given the numerous efficiencies and synergies that temperature-controlled pharmaceutical and food products stand to gain from.

Token Utility & Economics

Smart Containers will be issuing 2 coins: SMARC and LOGI

SMARC Tokens

SMARC Tokens are ERC20, dividend tokens that grant holders up to 20% of future profits. Not only will holders gain dividend from the business operations of Smart Containers, but potential exit gains – via an Initial Public Offering (IPO) – may also come into play in the long-term. The dividends and future exit profits will be paid out in ETH tokens. SMARC tokens aren’t utility tokens and are purely used for capital-raising purposes backed by the business success of Smart Containers.

We opine that the mere fact that Smart Containers are planning for an IPO puts it far beyond a majority of ICOs, showcasing their professional drive towards tangible business success.

LOGI Tokens

The LOGI coin is also an ERC20 token that will be used to fuel the payment of smart contract transactions. LOGI tokens are utility tokens that fuel the LOGI chain ecosystem, where stakeholders can use it to gain access to and pay for a seamless and integrated shipping process with all data ingrained into the blockchain.

Although only 20% of the pre-minted LOGI tokens will be available in the public sale, we opine that LOGI tokens could hold great long-term potential since it is directly backed by the actual utility of the LOGI chain ecosystem. Given a small hardcap of USD $4 million, the potential for LOGI tokens to appreciate exponentially is high.

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Team

Smart Container’s team looks impressive; over 80 employees (including advisors) managed by a top management team with an established track record. Nico Ros (CTO & Co-Founder) was a managing partner at Basel-based ZPF engineering, which has built some of the most expensive buildings in Switzerland. Thomas Taroni (Head of IT) is the creator of the largest media database in Switzerland, and thereafter formed his own IT firm that specializes in process automation. Andreas (CFO) was the former CFO for Swissport – the largest ground service provider for airlines – and Unitpool – the largest independent air-freight container pooling firm.

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Advisors



Smart Containers are also supported by a strong advisory board, including Oliver Bussman (Ex-CIO of UBS and SAP), Dr Fabian Schar (Blockchain expert) and Michael Guzik (Senior Digital Strategist currently heading PwC’s blockchain technology initiative).

Roadmap

The roadmap for Smart Container went as far back as 2009 when it was first conceived. They have been constantly developing their hardware since then and are now making a foray into developing their blockchain-backed software to be integrated with their hardware. Although not definitive, the alpha and beta version of the software will be delivered by 2018. The development of FoodGuardians technology will also be carried out simultaneously and is scheduled to be ready by 2019.

Traction

Key Statistics

Established Business: Smart Containers have been in operation for over five years, with over 50-man years of research

Smart Containers have been in operation for over five years, with over 50-man years of research Competitive Edge: Smart Containers hold over 100 patents on their cooling technology, ensuring their technological advantage is protected. Their custom cooling technology stores as much as five times more energy than traditional methods to keep the container at a consistent temperature. Additionally, Smart Containers products are 75 times more reliable than the market leader with less than 0.1% temperature deviation.

Smart Containers hold over 100 patents on their cooling technology, ensuring their technological advantage is protected. Their custom cooling technology stores as much as five times more energy than traditional methods to keep the container at a consistent temperature. Additionally, Smart Containers products are 75 times more reliable than the market leader with less than 0.1% temperature deviation. Safest Service Provider: Smart Containers’ products have been proven to be the most reliable and safest within the pharmaceuticals industry. This has been verified by 12 of the 20 largest pharmaceutical manufacturers globally, who have independently validated the performance of their service offering.

Smart Containers’ products have been proven to be the most reliable and safest within the pharmaceuticals industry. This has been verified by 12 of the 20 largest pharmaceutical manufacturers globally, who have independently validated the performance of their service offering. Hardware Development: Smart Container’s cutting-edge temperature controlled containers have already been established in the pharmaceutical and food logistics market. They’re looking to develop the blockchain-integrated software to be integrated with their developed hardware through this token sale.

Backers & Collaboration

Although Smart Containers have been in operation in just 5 years, it has managed to create strategic partnerships with Cargolux – which is one of the largest cargo airlines in Europe – and Emirates – the biggest airline in the Middle East.

Strengths

Established Project: Smart Containers is an established business with exponential traction in the temperature-control niche that has secured big partnerships with the likes of CargoLux and Emirates

Smart Containers is an established business with exponential traction in the temperature-control niche that has secured big partnerships with the likes of CargoLux and Emirates Advanced & Protected Technology: Smart Containers hold over 100 patents on their cooling technology that has been developed with over 50-man years of research. Their technological prowess has been verified and proven to be much more effective and reliable than the traditional competitors.

Smart Containers hold over 100 patents on their cooling technology that has been developed with over 50-man years of research. Their technological prowess has been verified and proven to be much more effective and reliable than the traditional competitors. Natural Blockchain Fit: At the back of a successful business, Smart Containers is further enhancing their model by integrating a blockchain-based ecosystem that will proliferate greater efficiency and cost-savings in the temperature-sensitive, logistics niche.

At the back of a successful business, Smart Containers is further enhancing their model by integrating a blockchain-based ecosystem that will proliferate greater efficiency and cost-savings in the temperature-sensitive, logistics niche. Feasible Go-To-Market Plan: Probably due to their existing business acumen, Smart Containers is one of the very few projects that have a defined go-to-market strategy for the integration of their blockchain solution into their IT structure as well as their product development, ensuring that all of their core competencies are simultaneously worked on.

Weaknesses

Steep Stakeholder Adoption: In order for Smart Containers to attain their vision, stakeholders in the traditional logistics process must – in one form or another – adopt the technology. Requiring all traditional stakeholders to jump on the revolutionary and innovative bandwagon is a tall order, and requires tremendous partnerships, collaborations and pilot testing initiatives to get the ball rolling. However, given that they’ve secured partnerships with major airlines like Cargolux and Emirates, the future looks bright.

In order for Smart Containers to attain their vision, stakeholders in the traditional logistics process must – in one form or another – adopt the technology. Requiring all traditional stakeholders to jump on the revolutionary and innovative bandwagon is a tall order, and requires tremendous partnerships, collaborations and pilot testing initiatives to get the ball rolling. However, given that they’ve secured partnerships with major airlines like Cargolux and Emirates, the future looks bright. Missing Blockchain Architecture: Smart Containers have yet to finalise the blockchain architecture of their proposed software and ecosystem. Therefore, we cannot analyse their project from a technical standpoint.

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Summary

Smart Containers is already an established business that has everything going for them; ground-breaking technology protected by patents, a profitable business, a strong team, strategic partnership with major brands and a proven use-case that would greatly enhance efficiency and credibility in transporting sensitive medicinal and food products. Although their hardware has been making exponential waves, transiting to blockchain-based software development would be a different ballgame altogether.

Verdict: Good Project

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This represents the writer’s personal opinions and does not – in any way- constitute a recommendation of an investment or financial advice. Please assume caution when investing in cryptocurrencies and do so at your own risk, as it is extremely volatile and you can lose your money.

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