G2 Ocean and Manuchar NV have announced the recent completion of a series of successful tests of a blockchain-based Bill of Lading (B/L) system from CargoX, demonstrating a marked reduction in document handling times in international trade shipments.
The two companies concluded their tests of the system earlier this month, managing the transfer of ownership of goods on shipments travelling from China to Peru with the CargoX Smart B/L application.
The technology completes the document ownership transfer securely within minutes, the companies said, compared with the days or weeks it takes to send a document via regular courier services.
“Paper Bills of Lading are already considered a historic artefact. The Smart B/L solution gives both us and our clients the power of a modern, reliable, and efficient tool,” said Rune Birkeland, CEO at G2 Ocean.
“It will bring cost optimisation and improved data security into their processes. The document transaction reliability in this system is undisputable.”
In total, G2Ocean and Manuchar have completed five separate pilot shipments, with five Smart Bills of Lading. They departed the port of loading at Xingang, China, on the 5th of April 2019, and reached the port of discharge at Callao, Peru, on the 26th of May. The distance between the ports is 9,504 nautical miles, and the importer received the Smart B/Ls after a couple of minutes.
“G2 Ocean considers smart contracts based on distributed ledgers or blockchain as a unique opportunity to digitalise and automate manual processes between its clients and subcontractors,” added Leif Arne Strømmen, Vice President of Innovation, G2 Ocean.
“The Bill of Lading is one of two priority areas in 2019 using blockchain technology. Based on these successful pilots, our next step will be to scale this up and offer it’s as a value-added service to our clients.”
