Blockchain in Trucking Alliance and Blockchain for container shipping

One of the largest flatbed trucking fleets in the US has joined the Blockchain in Trucking Alliance (BiTA). PS Logistics, LLC, a leading national transportation and logistics company, joined as a charter member, to help advance the transportation industry through smart technologies and standardized performance standards.

The Blockchain in Trucking Alliance (BiTA) formed August 2017 and it is a forum for promotion, education, and encouragement to develop and adopt blockchain applications in the trucking, transportation, and logistics industry. BiTA’s goal is for members to participate, discuss, create, and adopt industry standard uses of blockchain applications and to provide clarity and direction for the development of blockchain technology in the trucking industry in a manner that will create efficiency, transparency, and foster trust. BiTA standards are intended to create a common framework to help organizations develop and adopt blockchain technology.

PS Logistics, as a charter member along with TransRisk, Triumph Business Capital and McLeod Software, will employ the use of smart technology and uniform performance standards in order to advance the transportation industry. The organization is currently listed as a logistics charter member along with the U.S. Xpress Inc. and Convoy.

PS Logistics serves customers in various industries throughout the United States, with a network of over 2,500 trucks, 530 logistics professionals and 50 terminals. The company’s brand names include P&S Transportation, TA Services, Blair Logistics and Loudon County Trucking.

Blockchain can be used to create transparency and streamline processes.

Blockchain transactions are verified by distribution nodes, and anyone can join or leave the network as they please. The main element that is attracting some freight brokers is how easy it is to opt in or opt out of transactions.

Blockchain for container shipping transactions

Blockchain is also being used in the $150 billion container shipping industry. Hong Kong-based company 300cubits aims to partially replace U.S. dollars in the container shipping industry with a token soon to be launched on Ethereum – an open-source, public, blockchain-based platform.

Unlike ticket booking in airlines, customers in container shipping do not bear any consequences for not showing up for bookings. Industry people complain about the lack of trust between liners and customers.

In a few weeks, 300cubits will issue a token called a TEU. The number sold in the initial coin offering will assign value to the tokens. The company will then give a portion of tokens to industry practitioners. The TEU tokens will be used as booking deposits for container shipping where value could be lost if a customer does not turn up with a cargo or a container liner does not load a cargo according to a confirmed booking.

“Industry practitioners will be incentivized to use the TEU tokens because the tokens are given to them for free; they have this so called “ghost booking” issue to fix and their ownership of TEU tokens will appreciate if they use them,” says Lee. “Their recognition and day-to-day use of TEU tokens will further enhance the value of the tokens.”

As booking deposits, the TEU tokens’ value will naturally be linked to the value of actual freight rates. Hence, the trading of the tokens will become a leading indicator for freight rates, serving much like a peer-to-peer crowd prediction platform for container shipping, says Lee.

In the long term, Lee says the TEU tokens may become a defacto settlement crypto currency in container shipping, much like U.S. dollars. “We see the TEU tokens being adopted as a settlement currency for the container shipping industry, which could move the whole industry’s transactions or even the entire logistics industry’s transactions onto the blockchain.”