Dive Brief:

• Israeli container shipping company ZIM has successfully employed blockchain-based software by Wave to create detailed bills of lading for shipment, Port Technology reported Monday.
• Each member of the participating supply chain was connected to a decentralized network that permitted a direct exchange of tamper-proof files. All those involved issued, transferred and received original electronic documents impossible to dispute, forge, or accept unnecessary risks.
• The containers went from China to Canada, and were sent by Sparx Logistics. No issues arose in this maiden application of blockchain technology. 

Dive Insight:

The latest experiments shows how soon blockchain could break into the transport verification process.

Blockchain technology allows for the simplification of business to business exchanges, as well ensuring accuracy and transparency remain uncorrupted in a highly decentralized system, like the shipping industry.

Using blockchain for bills of lading plays to the technology's strengths: because bills of lading are legally binding contracts between shippers and carriers regarding the cargo data, blockchain can automatically verify such contracts and allow both parties to see any changes made to a contract.

For the shipping industry, this improves security and transparency dramatically, and allows for a greater degree of trust between shippers and carriers, especially when sharing data. Furthermore, because a shipping container company has implemented the tech in this way, that's going to create complications for freight forwarders doing business with ZIM if they don't use blockchain.

ZIM's move could cause the company's clients, customers and partners to move toward adopting the tech just so they can stay on the same page. As more companies within the industry adopt blockchain, those with whom they do business will also need to join a blockchain platform just to keep up and continue business relationships.