Co-authored by Diana J. Stern
This week, a major global technology firm and the world's largest shipping company announced TradeLens, a blockchain-enabled shipping solution and "joint collaboration" between the two companies. Built on Hyperledger, the system has reportedly captured more than 150 million shipping events worldwide. The companies assert TradeLens will allow shippers to cut middlemen from the supply chain, saving customers up to 40 percent on shipping costs. With 92 firms already signed up (representing some 20 percent of the global supply chain's market share), TradeLens expects to have a commercially available platform by year end.
In developments related to food supply chain solutions, Wyoming ranchers are working on a blockchain solution to track their beef's provenance, with the hope that consumers will pay a premium for beef with verified origins. Additionally, Nestlé recently announced that it is testing whether fruits and vegetables used in baby food products can be traced using blockchain technology to improve recalls.
In Austria, a startup named Grapevine World recently announced a blockchain pilot for tracking healthcare data for a Forbes 100 pharmaceutical corporation's clinical trials. The pilot will be hosted on a major cloud network, leverage existing health care interoperability standards and use Hyperledger Fabric. In China, ZhongAn Technology, an insurance company subsidiary, announced a new blockchain network to provide assurances on the origin and quality of diamonds using existing industry certification standards. The network reportedly has already uploaded data on 760,000 diamonds.
To read more on supply chain, see the following,
- 90 Companies Join IBM and Maersk's Blockchain Supply Chain
- IBM-Maersk Blockchain Platform Adds 92 Clients As Part Of Global Launch
- Blockchain Technology Could Make Wyoming Beef A Premium Product
- Farm to Cradle: Nestlé Experiments with Tracking Baby Food on the Blockchain
- Blockchain-Based Pilot for Exchange of Clinical Data Announced by Grapevine World in Collaboration with the University of Southampton and Tiani Spirit
- New Blockchain App Claims Its Already Tracking 760,000 Diamonds
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