The city of Valencia, Spain is planning a smart port based on blockchain technology according to an announcement made at the Dutch port of Rotterdam during them Smart Ports & Supply Chain Technologies conference on Wednesday 03 October.
Jose Garcia de la Guía, head of new technologies at the port of Valencia, pointed out the benefits of using the technology and stated that Valencia was just one of many ports to implement the technology in future:
“Starting from Valencia, we offer to use blockchain as a strategic option to provide transparency of logistic chain, from end to end, going further than our port itself. That means we’re planning to apply cloud technologies not only with our partners from Port Community Systems but also with all others.”
He went on to describe the smart port as a “port without papers”, citing the application of blockchain as a tool that can eliminate the need for paper documents in supply chain tracking, greatly increasing efficiency and reducing waste, development times and maintenance costs. The port rep also announced the goal of optimizing infrastructure and resources.
Valencia is the second-largest port in the Mediterranean by volume – the largest port, Algeciras, recently held an IT symposium discussing the potential application of blockchain technology.
The shipping industry seems firmly set to adopt blockchain technology in the coming months and years. CCN recently reported that the largest port operator in the UK is exploring blockchain solutions to create system interoperability, a major pain point in the shipping logistics sector. By eliminating the need to manually re-enter data the suggested solution is estimated to increase efficiency throughout the 21 port network handled by the UK operator.
Meanwhile, Europe’s largest shipping port has launched a blockchain lab to develop cutting-edge solutions in the field. Rotterdam port now hosts BlockLab, which seeks to provide real-time shipping data over an interoperable blockchain among other blockchain solutions.
In Asia, Singapore’s biggest shipping company has partnered with IBM to digitalize certain documents crucial to trade and store them securely on a blockchain. The documents in question (Bill of Lading, or e-BL on the blockchain) has a number of functions from proving ownership of goods, receipt of shipment and contract of carriage to other trade financing functions as well. As CCN recently reported, the WEF estimates that blockchain can generate $1.1 trillion in trade revenue through adoption in sectors like the shipping industry.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
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