Ticking data boxes

Belgian port logistics start-up T-mining claims to be one of the first to apply blockchain in the sector.

“We are currently focusing on secure handover of goods, using blockchain technology to transfer the right to pick up containers,” says T-mining founder Nico Wauters. “This right needs to be transferred via a lot of stakeholders to a single truck driver that is the only one entitled to pick up a specific container. By using blockchain, we tokenise this pick-up right and solve an important security issue at port terminals, where, in a couple of hours, thousands of trucks are loaded from ocean carriers.

“While unloading, many drivers, barges and trains have to be supplied with containers. During these busy hours, mistakes happen or even worse, containers get stolen.”

T-mining is working with some major companies in the Port of Antwerp and says it will be trialling the solution with one of the largest container terminals by the end of the first quarter 2017.

The company was one of the participants at the Antwerp Port Hackathon in December 2016, at which 30 international teams worked non-stop to find solutions on eight specific challenges for the Port of Antwerp.

“During the hackathon we worked on an adjacent problem – creating transparency on demurrage/detention,” says Mr Wauters.

There were three blockchain concepts among the 12 solutions presented at the end of the hackathon. “It seems like disruption is ready to hit the port sector!” commented Katrien Van den broeck, head of digital at Growth Inc, the event’s communications & social media partner.

The Antwerp hackathon attracted 200 participants – twice as many as the World Port Hackathon held in Rotterdam three months earlier, where the prize for the overall best idea went to a solution using blockchain technology to detect potential fraudulent actions in the supply chain.

Some hail blockchains for cutting out the middle man, as with Bitcoin and other digital currencies – but even in the financial sector, banks are now investigating and using the technology to safeguard their futures, says John Kerkhof, director at Antwerp Port Community System.

“This is something that we also have to think about – to safeguard the position of the port community system (PCS),” he says.

Taking control

A key question mark over the blockchain concept is that if there is no one in overall control, who is responsible if something does go wrong? The general reply, worryingly to those on the outside, seems to be – “what could possibly go wrong?”

That could be where port community systems, as established trusted third parties, could play an important role.

“It is a question of trust,” says Mr Kerkhof. “It will be a while before people have trust in the systems and technology involved and confident enough to switch to this type of application.

“At APCS we are not building any application yet – but we are certainly studying and analysing blockchain. We want to try a proof of concept with one or two partners and see if it does provide a useful and meaningful application in which we maintain our central role. It is an opportunity, and you had better be prepared.”

Portbase, the Dutch PCS, is also looking into the possibilities, says its senior adviser Hans Rook, who is also chairman of the International Port Community Systems Association (IPCSA).

“Members discussed the blockchain concept at IPCSA’s recent conference in Abu Dhabi,” he says. “I believe blockchains can enhance a lot of process flows. For example, at the moment we still have paper bills of lading and letters of credit, to be exchanged before any transaction can take place. When blockchain is used as a tool, these two documents might disappear. Blockchain does seem to enable the sending of trusted information in a secure way.

“The concept is focusing on data and data sharing, to build up the whole. It is as if you ask me the questions and I give you the answers – bit by bit, the information is shared and updated.”