ABN Amro successfully completes blockchain proof-of-concept for container transport

Dutch banking giant ABN Amro has announced the successful transport of the first paperless, immediately funded, door-to-door traceable container from South Korea to the Netherlands using the blockchain-based Deliver platform.

The Deliver platform has been jointly developed by Samsung SDS, the Port of Rotterdam Authority and ABN AMRO Bank. According to Finextra, the project partners have been working on the initiative since last October.

In the existing setup, there are separate flows for physical, administrative and financial streams within international freight distribution steams, which leads to inefficiencies.

In its official announcement, ABN Amro said that the blockchain proof-of-concept (PoC) has shown that “an integrated chain management system with paperless integration of physical, administrative and financial flows is now actually feasible.”

“The DELIVER concept stimulates process automation and offers added value to all actors in the supply chain,” it added (via online translation).

The bank said that the PoC has successfully demonstrated that blockchain technology makes interoperability possible and showed that the integration of container traceability systems, the processing of the required freight documents and financing can be carried out completely paperless within a trusted and safe environment.

Building on the successful PoC, AMRO plans to open up the platform to shipping companies around the globe.

“We are strongly committed to help our clients in their process to fully automate their trade flows. All parties involved in the trade flow will benefit from more effective controls, greater efficiency, transparency and traceability,” Edwin van Bommel, chief innovation officer at ABN Amro said.

“With these pilots we will be integrating all the supply chain flows: from workflow management combined with track & trace to the digitisation of paper documentation such as waybills and the financing of handled freight or services. The ultimate objective is to reach an open, independent and global platform that operates from the perspective of shippers."