Top 5 blockchain projects in the logistics industry

According to a Deloitte study, 59% of surveyed companies perceive blockchain as a revolutionary technology that can transform an organization's economy and business processes. 52% of these companies are ready to implement the technology.

The most common challenges in logistics are multi-stage supply chains and a lack of transparency at these stages. These problems can be solved with blockchain implementation, since it allows for reliable, immutable data storage and transparent access to it.

The article is going to tell about companies that have already started researching blockchain technology to optimize supply chains, as well as about companies that have already successfully implemented this technology in supply chains and managed to improve their efficiency.


The following companies have already implemented blockchain solutions into the logistics industry:

• TradeLens
• IBM Food Trust
• Everledger
• Provenance
• Yojee

The platform created under the scope of the project is called TradeLens and has already teamed up more than 92 participating companies.

TradeLens gives users the ability to keep all the necessary workflow in digital format. Every certificate, an accompanying document and other papers are stored in the same ledger, which drastically simplifies their audit. Business processes automation is achieved by ClearWay sales document module integration, which operates using smart contracts. Users also have the opportunity to integrate TradeLens with Internet of Things (IoT) and track various metrics, such as cargo weight or container temperature.

Just during the platform testing, there were executed more than 154 million operations on blockchain, and transit time in the United States was reduced by 40%, which allowed to reduce costs significantly.

The platform is a cloud-based solution based on IBM blockchain. It stores data on more than 1 million food products on the IBM blockchain platform and Hyperledger Fabric.

The IBM Food Trust uses blockchain technology so that it can give all participants access to a transparent, consistent and distributed ledger of records related to food origin, transportation status, location status, and more.

Currently, there are more than 350,000 transaction, which have been executed on the platform. IBM states that using blockchain technology within their platform reduces the cost of returning products by an average of 80%.

Lian Kemp, the head of the company, said that they basically created a copy of a physical object on blockchain. The ledger stores information about a diamond origin, color, cut, transparency, carat weight, certificate number, and more. The value of this approach for end users is a quick way to verify the authenticity of a stone. Everledger also works with insurance companies.

The platform started operating in 2015 and already stores information about more than 2 million diamonds. Also, the project creators plan to use the system to record information about other luxury goods: wine, art, and more.

The platform allows enterprises to make supply chains more transparent and simplifies tracking. The solution collects an image of a product, origin information, location and creates a dashboard where all the necessary information is displayed.

The company is already successfully working with several organizations. For example, they have integrated their solution to Co-op, the UK grocery chain. Stores got access to a product tracking platform, which allows them to view whole product journey from a manufacturer to supermarket shelves. As a result of the integration of this project, each product received a digital passport, which allowed to reduce risks, increase customer confidence and increase business efficiency.

Furthermore, during 6-month long project, Provenance helped Indonesian fishermen to tag caught fish and record product information on blockchain. As a result of this trial, workflow was significantly reduced and all information for complete product tracking became available on mobile devices.

The platform allows freight carriers to track order status in real time, generate bills, meanwhile artificial intelligence completely replaces dispatchers and automatically distributes orders between drivers.

Yojee has around 30,000 vehicles and customers from Singapore, Australia, Cambodia and Indonesia. The CEO of the company, Ed Clark, claims that thanks to the platform, delivery time can be reduced from 2-3 days to 1 day.

According to the Gartner study, blockchain technology will gradually reach so called Productivity Plateau phase in the next 10 years. In addition to the active projects described in the article, a great deal of companies are testing the blockchain technology to upgrade transportation and simplify logistics processes.