It is not new to us that Blockchain technology had been disrupting the financial industry, but many of us have little exposure to how Blockchain Technology is revolutionizing the Global transportation industry. Though this is not a hot topic as to how Bitcoin and blockchain technology enhances the financial industry, Bitcoin and Blockchain tech somehow solve some short comings of the traditional transportation system.
Some of the issues that Bitcoin and Blockchain tech improves in terms of global transportation are:
- Transportation Payment Dispute
- Administrative cost
- Transportation of Temperature controlled goods
- LTL (Less than Truckload) inefficiency
Transportation Payment DisputeEvery day, there are $140 billion tied up in disputes for payments in the transportation industry. To put things into perspective, that’s about equivalent to the GDP of Hungary.
For an average invoice, a company must wait 42 days before receiving payment. Many businesses have millions of dollars tied up in their accounts, which they could be using to advance their business, improve delivery times and better serve end users.
Administrative CostProcessing and administration costs have risen to as high as 20 percent of transportation’s overall costs, due to over-reliance on paper transactions.
IBM and Maersk performed an experiment where the companies tracked a shipping container of flowers from Mombasa, Kenya, to Rotterdam, the major port in the Netherlands.
They found that just a simple refrigerated shipment went through more than 30 different organizations and required over 200 separate communications. Any lost form or delayed approval could hold up the container in port indefinitely, or get it lost altogether.
Transportation Of Temperature-Controlled Goods8.5% of sensitive pharmaceutical shipments experience temperature deviations. In the Middle East, that number rises to between 15-20%.
Because of this, many valuable biopharmaceutical products never make it past customs, as they exceed acceptable temperature ranges.
That means wasted transportation costs, additional administrative inefficiency, and in most cases, a loss of the product itself.
LTL (Less than Truckload) inefficiency90 percent of trucking companies worldwide have six trucks or fewer. This causes the industry to struggle with matching shippers (the demand) with carriers (the supply).
Due to this issue, it’s estimated that truckers drive 29 billion miles per year with partial or empty truckloads. In case you were curious, that’s equivalent to just over a million trips around the full circumference of the earth.
This inefficiency in consolidating LTL loads costs trucking companies millions of dollars every year. It also raises shipping costs for consumers.
With the use of Blockchain Technology, the challenges stated above can be addressed by changing the face of trucking and logistics freight such as:
- Blockchain Means Better Freight Tracking
- Using The Internet Of Things (IoT) And AI To Increase Efficiency
- Effective Tracking Of Fleet Or Vehicle Performance History
- Easier Carrier Onboarding
- Using The Internet Of Things For Vehicle To Vehicle Communication (IOT)
- Making Load Boards More Reliable
- Smart Contracts Cut Costs And Eliminate Middlemen
- Sweetbridge Uses Blockchain To Increase Liquidity In The Supply Chain
We can read more on the explanation about the listed improvement above. Here is also the infographic of how the blockchain technology is revolutionizing the global transportation and Logistics:
Here is an infographic[1] of the thread topic
(click to enlarge the image)Additionally in particular, Bitcoin as the main cryptocurrency can also help in the improvement of Transportation and Logistics. Although it is somehow limited, it is enough to greatly improve the industry, especially in terms of payment transactions, transparency, and efficiency.
- Faster Payment Transaction - by streamlining the transportation supply reducing the time needed to wait and giving an increased efficiency
- Transparency - with transparency it is easier to track and manage supply chain processes.
- Security - since Bitcon blockchain is fully secured, fraud and tampering is prevented
- Accessibility - Bitcoin due to the need of no intermediaries, people who are unbank can easily avail the services offered by the transportation sector.
Here are some articles to read on how the blockchain and Bitcoin revolutionize the global transportation and Logistics:
Shipping Giant UPS Joins Blockchain in Trucking AllianceUPS dives into blockchain technology as trucking companies seek to evolveRoad to Innovation? Truck Giant Penske Joins Blockchain Group10 Things to Know About Blockchain for the Transportation IndustryBlockchain in transport – Awaiting the breakthroughExpedited delivery... How transportation companies can thrive with blockchain
The above-stated list may be missing some important updates and function of blockchain technology in the transportation and logistics sector, please feel free to add more so that we are able to understand how important Bitcoin and Blockchain technology is in disrupting the transportation & logistic industry.
[1]
https://www.winnesota.com/blockchain