Global logistics provider Agility is to collaborate on Maersk and IBM’s blockchain solution, the first freight forwarder so to do.
Agility will identify events associated with individual shipments, sharing and receiving information about them via the distributed ledger blockchain technology developed by IBM and Maersk.
Agility said that its goals were to reduce costs and increase shipping efficiency by integrating information about shipments onto a secure platform accessible to shippers, carriers, freight forwarders and others in the supply chain.
In addition to showing the location of containers in transit, blockchain can show the status of customs documents, bills of lading and other documentation, improving workflow, cutting processing costs and enhancing transparency by integrating shipping processes and partners.
Maersk and IBM announced the joint venture in blockchain in January. The platform is built on IBM Blockchain technology, which is provided through the IBM Cloud and powered by Hyperledger Fabric 1.0, a blockchain framework and one of the Hyperledger projects hosted by the Linux Foundation.