Technology has interconnected the world today like never before. With emerging technology like blockchain, we are able to utilize the incremental network effect of technology to drive business value even higher and improve our lives. Blockchain technology holds much promise in the shipping industry by encouraging transparency, trust and optimization of logistics. Much like how Bitcoin built on previously developed decentralized networks like Bittorent, so will dapps utilizing blockchain technology vastly improve existing digital business models.
Today, the largest taxi service in the world Uber owns no vehicles. Likewise, Airbnb the largest home rental does not own any homes. Both of these startups are very successful and share a common trait which is a single trustworthy platform for their respective economies. While not exactly in a similar trajectory, Blockshipping can be able to be the missing neutral third party in the shipping economy. According to the founder of GSCP, it is the long-term vision of the project to make it possible for carriers to be able to access rather than having to own containers to conduct their business. Carriers will be able not to compete but to share their resources(containers) and thus cut down costs for both of them. Ownership of the containers can be delegated to third parties or even one of the two parties. The bottom line is much like Uber, there will be much-needed availability of containers on demand in a trustless and cheap cost.

Current situation

There are a number of internal and external limitations to the container economy. This increases overhead costs and misplaced priorities in the business value. For instance, the common neutral platform will level the ground for all the carriers without offering any selective advantage. This is a much needed first step to an all-round consensus like what the airline industry has been able to agree on more than two decades ago. Other spanners in the container industry today include:
• Overcapacity
• Low freight rates
• Security threats
• Increasing environmental regulations

Blockshipping

Blockshipping is a Danish blockchain startup that seeks to leverage blockchain technology to improve on the inefficiencies of the global container industry. The core product will be an all-inclusive software platform for all the participants in the container shipping ecosystem called the GSCP Global Shared Container Platform. The current product serves as the MVP prototype (Minimum Viable Product) can be accessed from the website. All transactions on the platform between the users will be carried out by the use of pre-coded smart contracts. The value proposition for GSCP is blockchain technology in this space is quite wide bringing real improvements and convenience. Some of the users of the space can include carriers, importers and exporters. The end customers can be able to receive better service and lower costs, due to reduced overhead transportation and logistics costs. This is because carriers will have reduced operational costs due to increased transparency and smoothed logistics.

Inception

The Blockshipping project has received a loan from the Danish Maritime Foundation in April 2017 while the project was still in infancy. This will be repaid when the project develops. Together with close friends and angel investors,
Blockshipping raised a total of $350k. Currently, the project is raising money through an ICO. 40, 000, 000 tokens of the total supply of 50, 000, 000 will be sold in total during the ICO and the private sale.

Value proposition

The GSCP platform has the potential to reduce costs up to the value of $5.7 billion and reduce the global CO2 emissions by more than 4 million tons annually. This can be created through the sharing of containers for transport. For instance, today due to the lack of trust, the multiple carrier corporations nowadays are forced to work in a siloed setup. This creates cumulatively larger container fleets overall due to more empty containers owned by each entity. The reduction in the number of containers that will be transported will result in reduced envirionmental cost for an industry whose 15 biggest ships emit as much greenhouse gases as the total vehicles in the world combined.

Financial opportunity

The platform has an innovative revenue sharing model which will kick off in Q1 2019 when the platform goes live. The establishment of a market maker fund assures investors of a floor for their purchased tokens.

Conclusion

The Blockshipping project is the latest iteration of the now popular sharing economy. This is one of the healthiest disruptions that has been brought about by technology bringing better service to end users and economies of scale to emerging platforms. The fact that there are other blockchain startups in the container space shows that the project’s mission is relevant however their unique approach gives it a unique opportunity to carve its own niche.

For more information please visit the following important links:
Website: https://www.blockshipping.io/
Telegram: https://t.me/blockshipping/
Bounty thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3502799.0
Ann thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3502572.40