ShipChain- Bringing Order & Efficacy to Shipping

nicholas83 (56)in #cryprocurrency • 7 years ago (edited)

That the shipping industry. One of the main pillars of trade and commerce, continues to lag behind technologically, is quite troubling. This is especially so despite the scientific advancements over the past several decades. And despite the fact that humanity is stepping deeper into this space called Virtual Reality; the reality is that our need for tangible things has not diminished, in fact, it has multiplied. From shoes at DSW, to clothes from Macy’s or Amazon, to an espresso at the corner shop, the consumers’ needs continue to grow.

Interestingly, though this industry is set to hit over $15 trillion by 2023, “...the supply chain has major bottlenecks. The lack of a unified communication platform prevents the various players from interacting efficiently.” Some of these shortcomings include bad tracking, a lack of transparency, little or no accountability, obscene markup by middlemen and misaligned incentives. In short, the shipping industry can be a nightmare.

With so many trillions at stake, the need for an efficient system becomes more pressing. This need, however, moves beyond merely moving goods from Point A to Point B. There is above all else, the need to ensure that commodities reach their destination in a timely and efficient manner as cheaply as possible.

ShipChain on the Blockchain

These logistical issues are ones ShipChain is intimately aware of. As such, it has devised a brilliant solution. They have created a decentralized shipping ecosystem, which promises to do a number of things:

Tracking & transparency

Utilizing the Ethereum platform. It makes it possible to track goods across multiple carriers throughout the entire supply chain. ShipChain does this by employing a sidechain to keep “track (of) individual encrypted geographic waypoints across each smart contract.” In other words, the customer is always aware of where his/her product is.

Accountability

The tracking of goods, coupled with awarding drivers for efficiency and punctuality, is an initiative that is set to reduce the incidents of cargo theft, which in the USA alone is estimated to be $3 billion. The promise of rewards creates more accountability. Great idea.

The Middleman

Some brokers charge up 50% premium. But getting rid of them, or by reducing their role, ShipChain is set to create parity on the platform. This is because these middlemen will be utilized on a need to use basis. An added bonus is that the smaller carriers can now operate with more autonomy.

Communication

It is an open secret that transparency is severely lacking in this industry, but with ShipChain “…every step of the supply chain process is documented and recorded on either our main blockchain or [their] sidechain, creating full transparency and ease of communication.”

To bring into perspective how these breakthroughs will transform the industry. Let us take the following use-case scenario into account:

Upscale Boutique recently received a hammering of its image when it was found that some of their jeans were being made in sweatshops in Indonesia. To exacerbate the situation, it was revealed that some of these workers were children, as young as 9 years-old. Several human rights groups picketed the entrance of their corporate headquarters.

Subsequently, these same bodies lobbied to have stricter measures imposed to make corporations more proactive in making sure they can verify the source of their products and also ensure they track these products through all the areas of shipping to make sure that, at no point, they do business with entities that are accused of human rights abuses.

Upscale Boutique swiftly ends their relationship with the factory and has found a more favorable one, however, they are having problems with the shipping aspect. The broker, to whom they have conveyed the new regulations says it cannot make any guarantees, as, after leaving the factory, products change hands several times, and communication with the overseas carriers is inconsistent.

Now, these regulations will be fully enforced within a six week period. Upscale Boutique, however, wants to expedite the process, therefore, Purchasing Manager, Pam Lee, searches for an alternative and finds ShipChain, a blockchain pioneer in that field. ShipChain immediately connects her to a shipping company that adheres to all these regulations. Lee finds the whole process, from pickup to final drop-off completely transparent. She also does her due diligence and runs a background check on the new company. She finds that there is the added bonus of being able to track the shipments at every step. This is because their containers are chipped.

The beauty of the change is that, with the previous company, on several occasions, stocks went missing. And while Upscale Boutique was able to recoup some of their losses, there was some loss in customer confidence. This was so bad that a number of customers eventually gravitated towards companies that had switched to ShipChain.

To Upscale Boutique’s surprise, ShipChain charges 50% less than the previous company, which means that their overheads have been slashed. Furthermore, they are now combining barcode with ELD integration to provide transparency.

It gets better, because the trucking company they are using has switched over its fleet to environmentally friendly ones and have reduced their carbon footprint. This is something else Upscale Boutique has used to further repair their image.

But the pluses don’t end here because by utilizing smart contracts, the potential for human error is eliminated. After all, this is why the blockchain is upending the present financial system. But ShipChain, is not only using smart contracts. They have also studied the old system and have made improvements to their ecosystem. By the way, ShipChain will cut costs further when self-driving vehicles become available.

The Team

With over a century of combined experience. The ShipChain roster is just incredible. These pages cannot do them justice. But under the stewardship of John Monarch, this team covers all the bases and they are sure to steer this ship into prosperity.

ShipChain Board Meeting
From left CEO John Monarch, CMO Brian D. Evans, CRO Sam Rusani, Advisor Xavier Kochhar, Advisor Steve Schoch, Head of Business Development Simon Bogdanowicz.

From the Archaic to the New but Arcane?

Logistics is extremely difficult. The blockchain presents a steep learning curve. The latter has already started to change the way we operate. A person of 65-years-old who has been using paper all of his/her life is not gonna change their way of doing things unless they are given the option ShipChain is presenting; easy of use, efficiency, transparency and the incentive of making shipping more cost effective.