Heavy Duty Trucking, September 2019

HDT SEPTEMBER 2019 66 WWW TRUCKINGINFO COM BLOCKCHAIN What technology is required for blockchain The blockchain itself will be managed in a cloud Those developing the blockchain will need various types of technology especially cryptology and machine learning Most of those things will exist within the cloud explains Craig Montgomery senior vice president marketing and business development at ID Systems In terms of being able to participate initially it will depend upon your ability to aggregate your data and get it into the blockchain But that wont require a carrier to buy servers or hire extra IT staff Thats the beauty of blockchain he says Its a broad private distributed ledger where data is placed You dont have to go out and buy new hardware As far as tracking a shipment Dieter says the vendor has to know what data to send as does the shipper and the carrier They all have to work together collaboratively about the shipment More important than the technology required is trust Everybody has to be able to trust the blockchain Montgomery says Especially if usual competitors are participating in a blockchain They must be able to trust that their data will be encrypted and made available only to the those participating in that particular transaction How long will it be before we see blockchain in use Most of those working on this technology estimate that it will be two to five years before commercialized blockchains are deployed in transportation Currently there are trials under way involving some major shippers and many technology vendors are developing tools for using blockchains within their TMS platforms Montgomery says ID Systems has been looking in and watching partly because we felt like it was a little early for folks to start talking about blockchain I still think were a good three years out Dieter says Coming back to the trust issue he predicts that once one or more trusted parties developed a general ledger youll see more people want to get involved 3 4dent of Enterprise Architecture Transportation agrees with that assessment from the shippers standpoint EDI is a universal mechanism but it doesnt quite accomplish things he says Shippers can get the information they need but that often comes in different formats because they use different carriers Thats where the blockchain comes in because of its strict interface Srinivasen says If someone wants to send cargo data there is just one way to do it with the blockchain From a carriers perspective blockchain can solve one of their biggest problems getting paid in a timely manner Within a blockchain a carrier can show it fulfilled all of his requirements and get paid right away This can be accomplished using smart contracts within a blockchain Ken Craig McLeod Software vice president of special projects notes that smart contracts can be applied in numerous ways across the supply chain and transportation industries but data standards are key From fuel payments to dynamic insurance rates smart contracts and seamless commerce require the development of adoptable data specifications and thats one of the important areas being addressed by the collaborative work at BiTA He adds that smart contracts can be applied in other ways such as monitoring IOT data for maintenance or cold chain requirements Transplaces Dieter describes a smart contract as a simple piece of code with a set of business rules When all the rules are satisfied something happens whether thats a carrier getting paid an alert that a refrigerated load is outside of temperature range or other event and a combination of technologies advanced cryptology and encryption machine learning telematics etc that allow transactions between parties via that trusted shared ledger Each transaction is coded into a block which becomes part of a chain of blocks Each block contains an encrypted key that ensures its authenticity Entries or changes to the chain cannot be made without authorization of all participating members The transactions involve the movement of things from one entity to another and the blockchain keeps track of each one The key is that the database is immutable An IBM white paper on the subject noted that in traditional transactions each party keeps their own record or ledger of each transaction That leads to each participant having their own version of the truth instead of one version of the truth that all participants agree is correct Hector Hernandez co founder dexFreight a logistics platform and marketplace that uses the technology says blockchain is about collaboration a new business model What does that mean for transportation The technology offers the potential to vastly improve visibility of cargo at every point along a supply chain from ordering to processing to packaging Its especially beneficial for shippers who can see a lot more data with blockchain technology than with traditional technologies such as EDI explains Mike Dieter CEO of 3PL Transplace With traditional EDI electronic data interchange there is only a limited amount of data being sent who is shipping to who and load status and location for instance Blockchain on the other hand allows much more data to be passed between shipper carrier supplier and receiver It can include data such as who packed a shipment and at what time which pallet it was placed on what trailer it went on and the condition of that load at every point along the way All that information will live in the cloud Dieter says Right now a shipper would have to call a carrier to get specific information on a pallet but in the future the shipper can get all of that information from the blockchain Vasanth Srinivasan Trimbles vice presi2 Right now a shipper would have to call a carrier to get specific information on a pallet but in the future the shipper can get all of that information from the blockchain Mike Dieter Transplace To keep it simple you need an independent provider that is trusted to create and oversee the blockchain Craig Montgomery ID Systems