Major European Port to Use IBM’s Blockchain-based Tradelens Software for Supply Chain Management

The Port Authority of the Bay of Algeciras (APBA), a commercial, fishing and passenger port located in Andalusia, Spain, has partnered with IBM in order to use the New York-based tech firm’s blockchain-based shipping platform, Tradelens.

Bringing The Supply Chain To The Blockchain

According to Europa News, the Tradelens platform will allow APBA to more efficiently and securely manage its supply chain data, while also helping it maintain an accurate record of business transactions. As mentioned in the announcement, the Tradelens data management system will allow all supply chain participants including freight forwarders, individual shippers, shipping firms, and logistics operators to conduct transactions in a more cost-effective manner.

Notably, Algeciras is one of Europe’s busiest ports as it handles more than 70 million tons of cargo traffic each year. During 2017, the port recorded a container throughput of approximately 4.3 million containers.

The Tradlens solution, which was initially developed through a collaborative effort between giant shipping firm, Maersk and IBM, has now onboarded over 100 organizations and about 20 different port operators throughout the world. To date, the Tradelens platform has reportedly been used to handle 230 million shipments and process around 20 million containers.

Tradlens Now Used By Ports In Netherlands, Abu Dhabi, UK

In October 2018, the Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands announced it had partnered with ABN AMRO, one of Europe’s largest financial institutions, in order to launch a blockchain pilot program for expediting shipping processes. The partnership also involved working with one of Samsung’s local IT subsidiaries.

In June of last year, Maqta Gateway LLC, an affiliate company of UAE’s Abu Dhabi Ports, launched a blockchain-powered solution (called Silsal) for improving the efficiency of the Middle Eastern nation’s shipping and logistics sector.

In September 2018, Associated British Ports (ABP), the largest port operator in the UK, announced it was working on creating a distributed ledger technology (DLT)-enabled port logistics solution. The ABP had also said it would be using software developed by Marine Transport International, a digital logistics firm.

150 Million Events Captured On Tradelens

As CryptoGlobe reported in August 2018, IBM announced that the Tradelens software had successfully completed its beta stage. The tech giant also revealed that more than 90 companies had started using Tradlens to manage their supply chain processes.

Marie Wieck, the general manager and head of blockchain efforts at IBM, had said (at that time): 

We have seen a lot of skeptics talk about the validity of blockchain solutions. And I think with over 90 organizations and over 150 million events captured on the system we really are seeing proof in the pudding in terms of where people are spending their time to get benefits from blockchain.