IBM and Maersk are using a blockchain built on the Hyperledger Fabric to manage the supply chain for container shipping. Ramesh Gopinath, IBM’s vice president of blockchain research, said all the documents for shipping containers can be fully digitized and the containers can be tracked. In the September POC, the shipping cost $2,000 and the paperwork could be about $300, or 15 percent of the cargo’s value. Using digital records and a blockchain can sharply reduce costs, although the actual savings won’t be known for a year or two, until the blockchain is more widely used. “Global trade $20 trillion, big chunk of global GDP, and container shipping is a huge part of it,’ said Gopinath.

Source: Forbes March 05, 2017 14:31 UTC