Blockchain @ Logistics

Sajjad Khaksari
Serial Production Coordinator (SPC) Engineer at ALSTOM

Agenda
 BLOCKCHAIN & LOGISTICS
 CHALLENGES
 LACK OF LITERATURE
 SCHEME OF BLOCKCHAIN APPs
2© 2018 Sajjad Khaksari - Blockchain Technology

BLOCKCHAIN & LOGISTICS
 Supply Chain (SC), Logistics, and (Internet of Things) IoT are in
the center of attention in Urban, National, and International level.
 Supply Chain Management is an integrating function with primary
responsibility for linking business functions into a cohesive and high-
performing business model. (Pawlewski and Greenwood, 2014)
 Logistics is considered by the different actors as the ‘‘reason to be’’
of each firm belonging to a supply chain. Without logistics, no raw
material can be delivered. (Gonzalez-Feliu et al., 2014)
 The Internet of things (IoT) is the network of physical machines,
vehicles, home devices and other items embedded with electronics,
software, sensors, actuators, and network connectivity which allows
these objects to connect and exchange data. (Eric Brown, 2016)

 Logistics is categorized on the definition of the network studied
regarding the combination of three (3) main transport modes
(Crainic, Perboli, Rosano, 2017):
 Unimodal: involves only one mode of transport (e.g. Road)
 Multimodal: involves at least two modes and one terminal for
transfer (e.g. Road-Rail and Dry-Port)
 Intermodal: refers to a multimodal chain of container-
transportation services with no freight handling.
 The main characteristic of intermodal freight transportation is that
goods are moved in one loading unit and they have not to be handled
when changing modes (European Conference of Ministers of Transport, 2001).

 Intermodal transportation networks involve at least two modes
and freight being packed into a “container”.
 An intermodal transportation system is
made up of several different actors
interacting with each other.
 Shippers generate the freight
transportation demand
 Carriers perform the transport for
the shippers
 Freight logistics providers (FLPs)
provide a range of value-added
logistics services

 Facility and infrastructure managers
may be public entities or private firms
with public stakeholders. They do not
realize freight transportation but instead
deal with the management of the physical
networks (e.g. roads and highways)
 Institutional authorities (e.g.,
governments and public
administrations) are the actors who
tax, give incentives, set up policies,
and regulate transport activities.

 Customers represent the receivers of the
shipment services. They can be the final
client, retailer, distributor, or wholesaler.
Customers include citizens as well, and
they are mindful of emissions, safety, and
viability within their local areas.
 The aforementioned Transport & Logistics
actors have their own goals, make their own
decisions, and they are linked with the others
through many interconnections, interactions,
and interdependencies.
 All contribute to make intermodal
transportation a complex system.

 Also, decisions and interrelations may be affected by uncertainty
from many different sources, often related to demand, travel times,
and handling operations (Maggioni, Perboli, & Tadei, 2014).
 The efficiency and reliability of the intermodal transportation
system require coordination, and fast information flows among
several actors, interoperability among the operational activities
and modes, and behavioral aspects.
 Intermodal transportation supports the performance of emerging
operational and business models for transportation and logistics (e.g.,
City Logistics, Physical Internet, and Synchro-modality) that aim to
jointly achieve economic, environmental, and societal objectives.

 In this complicated circumstances, the technological requirement for
Blockchain as a decentralized and trustable structure appears.
 In fact, considering the opening scenes of Blockchain technology, it
is developed and raced its applicability in several industries (other
than the financial area) including logistics.
 In particular, Supply Chain, City Logistics, Cross-modal, and
Intermodal transportation are recognized as fertile territories for a
systematic Blockchain accomplishment.
 Another important factor which would help recognition of
Blockchain as a prolific innovation is the need of confidence that
usually describes the needs during intermodal operations.

 Currently there are many organizations devoting on Blockchain, and
they try to build a component of an extended purpose concerning the
Distributed Ledger Technologies applied to Logistics.
 Besides the logistics companies, academic research centers are
interesting to study the potential applicability of Blockchain.
 These studies are exciting because researchers strive to analyze
the structure design of distributed platforms for anonymized
dataset trading.
 Those programs are not possessing any centralized Third Party
concerning the financial, environmental, and operational world
of logistics and transportation.

 On another hand, these platforms consist of peers and consensus-
based Blockchain mechanism, and every peer serves as a data
broker, data receiver, and a verifier for Blockchain during a logistics
data transfer transaction.
 Also, the innovative actors in
transportation companies, are engaging
in scrutinizing the potential
advantages of Blockchain technology
as a Disruptive Technology as “the
first native digital medium for value”.
(Don Tapscott, 2016)
– e.g. FedEX Case

 Boucher, P. (2017) believes that Blockchain is a revolutionary
technology that enables the tracking of items through complex
supply chains, as in the diamond industry, where gems are traced
from mines to end consumers.
 Blockchain technology (BCT) promises to change the way individuals
and corporations exchange value and information over the Internet,
and it seems to thus be perfectly positioned to enable new levels of
collaboration among supply chain actors.
 The first commercial application projects are already gaining
traction, as technology giant IBM recently announced that it is
teaming with Maersk Line as one of the largest logistics service
providers in the world, to create a new solution to digitize the global,
cross-border supply chain through BCT. (Erik Hofmann, et al., 2018)

 The IBM Watson IoT Platform
with a Fabric integration
replicates data across a private
Blockchain network and
eliminates the need to have all
IoT data collected and
stored centrally.
 Decentralized Blockchain networks also improve the security of
IoT devices. Unique digital identities are built for each device over
time. This new way of creating and securing identity is exceptionally
hard to spoof. (Laurence, 2017)

Agenda
 CHALLENGES

CHALLENGES
 Logistics and transportation have faced several challenges before the
“Silk Road” time and into the future.
PAST
FUTURE
PRESENT

CHALLENGES & City Logistics
 As discussed and illustrated previously, the logistics and
transportation are complex systems.
 Particularly, the Intermodal Freight Transportation is a complex
arrangement because it is involved with several parties and it
encounters certain challenges within following topics:
 City Logistics is the process for totally optimizing the logistics
and transport activities in urban areas.
 It considers the traffic environment, congestion and energy
consumption within the framework of a market economy.
(Eiichi Taniguchi, 1999)

CHALLENGES & Synchromodality
 Synchromodality is the 5th
pathway of ALICE roadmap.
 Synchromodality involves a step
change from the current freight
transportation system, towards
the ultimate vision of
the Physical Internet.
 By synchronizing intermodal
services between modes
and with shippers.

CHALLENGES
© 2016 ALICE: The European Technology Platform for Logistics
Synchromodality
BLOCKCHAIN

CHALLENGES & Physical Internet
 Physical Internet is an open global logistics system.
 Established on physical, digital, and operational interconnectivity,
through encapsulation, interfaces and protocols.
(Benoit Montreuil, 2013)
 By transforming the way, physical objects are moved, stored,
realized, supplied and used.
 It aims toward greater logistics efficiency and transportation
sustainability

Agenda
 CHALLENGES

LACK OF LITERATURE
 Since 2008, after the famous
paper of Satoshi Nakamoto,
the number of literature
concerning the Blockchain
Technology and specifically
about SC and Logistics are
increased (specially in 2017).
 Note that 62 papers have
been analyzed.
 However, the lack of
literature regarding these
topics is notable.
 Further research and studies
are required.
1% 2%
3%
5%
18%
71%
LITERATURE
2008 2012 2013 2014 2016 2017

Agenda
 CHALLENGES
 SCHEME OF BLOCKCHAIN
APPLICATIONS – MTI Case

25
APPLICATION BUSINESS DIVISION NOTES
IBM Maritime Logistics
a joint-developed project with
MAERSK LINE
Walmart Food Supply chain Includes drone delivery plan
Port of Rotterdam Maritime Logistics Includes inland waterways etc.
FedEX Logistics Carriers -
Foodchain® Food Supply chain Tracks and traces materials and products
Provenance Supply chain
Determine the authenticity of a product,
where it was manufactured
MTI Maritime Logistics
TrustMe public Blockchain technology -
SolasVGM
© 2018 Sajjad Khaksari - Blockchain
SCHEME OF BLOCKCHAIN APPLICATIONS
 Eventually, there are emerging numerous cases and several
applications concerning the usage of Blockchain technology in
Transportation and Logistics Industry.

BLOCKCHAIN APPLICATIONS – MTI Case
 The Marine Transport International (MTI) is an international Maritime
Transportation company which is located in NEW JERSEY (USA).
 Jody Cleworth (CEO) considers that Blockchain empowers the
logistics industry, and announced the First Shipping Use of Public
Blockchain Technology by MTI (a pilot project).
 MTI was practicing the TrustMe and services from Black Swan.
 Pilot Objectives: the use of Blockchain within MTI SolasVGM
 On August 2017, the MTI's pilot was validated by the University of
Copenhagen & BLOC (Blockchain Labs for Open Collaboration).
 Advantages:
 Link various supply chain actors and real-time synchronization
 Sustainable alternative of cumbersome logs, data intermediaries,
spreadsheets, and privet or separated database (transparency).

BLOCKCHAIN APPLICATIONS – MIT Case
 Additionally, the Journal of
Commerce (JOC) notice that the
SolasVGM software which has
created by Marine Transport
International (MTI) is able to
facilitate the sharing of container
weights which is required by
international regulations.
 SOLAS VGM IS FULLY
BLOCKCHAIN
APPLICATION.

REFERENCES
 Pawlewski, P., & Greenwood, A. (Eds.). (2014). Process Simulation and Optimization in
Sustainable Logistics and Manufacturing. Cham: Springer International Publishing.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07347-7
 J. Gonzalez-Feliu et al. (eds.), Sustainable Urban Logistics: Concepts, Methods 21 and Information
Systems, EcoProduction, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-31788-0_2, Springer-Verlag Berlin
Heidelberg 2014
 Brown, Eric (2016), "Who Needs the Internet of Things?", Retrieved 10 January 2018.
[Online] Available: https://www.linux.com/news/who-needs-internet-things
 T.G. Crainic et al., Simulation of intermodal freight transportation systems: a taxonomy,
European Journal of Operational Research (2017),
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2017.11.061
 Crainic, T. G., & Kim, K. (2007). Intermodal Transportation. In C. Barnhart, & Laporte
(Eds.), Transportation. In Handbooks in Operations Research and Management Sci-
ence: 14 (pp. 467–537). North-Holland, Amsterdam. chapter 8.
 European Conference of Ministers of Transport (2001). Terminology on combined
transport. United Nations. New York and Geneva.
 SolasVGMTM: http://solasvgm.com

REFERENCES
 Jong-Hyouk Lee; Marc Pilkington; (2017). How the Blockchain Revolution Will Reshape the
Consumer Electronics Industry [Future Directions]. IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine,
6(3), 19–23. Retrieved from https://goo.gl/s2Y7zb
 Hofmann, E., Strewe, U. M., & Bosia, N. (2018). Supply Chain Finance and Blockchain
Technology. Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-
62371-9
 Tiana Laurence (2017), Hyperledger, the Blockchain, and the Future Of The Digital World,
BlockchainNews. February 8th, 2017. [Online] Available: https://goo.gl/bbfmSR
 ALICE Consortium (2015). WG2 Corridors, Hubs and Synchromodality. [Online]
Available: http://euetpl-kirechlik.savviihq.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/W26mayo-kopie.pdf
 Montreuil, Benoit. “Physical Internet Manifesto, version 1.11.1”, CIRRELT
Interuniversity Research Center on Enterprise Networks, Logistics and Transportation,
Quebec, 28 November 2012. Retrieved on 6 February 2013.
 Taniguchi, E., Thompson R.G., and Yamada, T. (1999). Modelling city logistics. In: City
Logistics I (E. Taniguchi and R.G. Thompson, eds.), Institute of Systems Science
Research, Kyoto, pp. 3-37
 Yan, S. (2015). Why the “One Belt One Road” Initiative Matters for the EU. Retrieved
January 11, 2018, from https://thediplomat.com/2015/04/why-the-one-belt-one-road-
initiative-matters-for-the-eu/

CONTACTS
Sajjad Khaksari
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6965-8121

Blockchain @ Logistics

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