Singapore’s Pacific International Lines, IBM to trial blockchain to create electronic bill of lading

Singapore’s leading containership operator has announced plans to trial blockchain technology to enhance supply chain management process.

Pacific International Lines (PIL) is teaming up with IBM Singapore to leverage blockchain technology in designing and creating an electronic bill of lading. The project is in line with PIL’s ultimate goal of the creation of intermodal transport logistics ecosystem which incorporates the use of blockchain.

The collaboration is supported by Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, Singapore Shipping Association,Infocomm Media Development Authority, Singapore Customs (National TradePlatform), and Bank of China Limited Singapore Branch (BOC).

Bill of Lading is a physical document that facilitates international trade. It contains crucial information, such as evidence of contract of carriage, receipt of goods, and title of the goods, which banks rely on to provide trade financing. Being largely paper-based, it is vulnerable to fraud, loss of the original document, document handling costs resulting in much inefficiency across the supply chain.

To address these issues, PIL and IBM will work towards creating an electronic Bill of Lading (e-BL) to streamline and replicate the paper trail online on a blockchain ledger created by IBM. The companies plan to extend the e-BL to shadow an end-to-end shipment in real time.

“Traditionally, information flow is predominantly handled via manual processes and the supplychain is slowed down when there are many points of communication within its framework,” Lisa Teo, Executive Director of PIL, said. “The use of blockchain technology to allow for the direct exchange of documents and information via the decentralised network to boost transparency, eliminate disputes forgeries and unnecessary risks will be key for this industry to progress.”