Tracking the World’s Shipping Containers Through Blockchain

A new company in the shipping industry is designing a Blockchain-driven platform that, for the first time, will provide a real-time registry of more than 27 million shipping containers.

The new company, Blockshipping, says its solution is called the Global Shared Container Platform (GSCP). They believe it has what it takes to address the disorganized chaos in the marketplace, to bring substantial savings for businesses throughout the supply chain and noticeably reducing the industry’s effect on the environment.

Within the next three to four-years, the Scandinavian company plans to have 60 percent of the world’s shipping containers tracked (16 million shipping containers) with hopes that its utility token will become the customary currency for transactions between shipping container businesses in the industry.

Passing on the Savings

Blockshipping is banking on the fact that companies will want to use its technology estimating the industry could see an annual savings of $5.7 billion if the Global Shared Container Platform goes mainstream.

This would be achieved through the “smarter handling” that the GSCP would facilitate – making it easier for deficit and surplus containers to be matched. Their research indicates that carriers could reduce the size of their container fleets by up to 20 percent by installing real-time tracking sensors and attaining accurate location data.

Blockshipping also asserts that one in five containers worldwide is unaccounted for at any given time. To make the problem more complex, it can also be difficult to obtain accurate information about whether containers are empty or loaded. Too often, trains and trucks are wasting time and fuel transporting empty shipping containers.

Protecting the Environment

Of course, the tracking of every shipping container means that the environmental advantages of the GSCP could prove quite significant. According to analysis from Opsiana, a consultancy based in Scandinavia, the platform could see global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions fall by 4.6 million tons per annum – with nitrogen oxide (NOx) emission cut by 4,900 tons.

The Details

The start-up company says that its first customers will be able to start using the portal beginning the first quarter of 2019. Throughout this year, the platform is being designed and filled with data, allowing testing to take place.

The company is going to be proposing two types of tokens. The first, known as the container platform token (CPT,) would be attached to the US dollar and used for clearing and settling transactions. At the same time, the container crypto coin (CCC) is going to be issued on the global Ethereum Blockchain for its initial coin offering. Examples of when CPT would be used include fees associated with the land transport of containers, and costs linked to repairing and servicing storage units.

As the tracking of Shipping Containers through the advancement of technology progresses, even more shipping containers will be available for an affordable price, making them a competitive option for you to utilize.  Are you considering buying a shipping container to use as a storage unit, office, home or some other project? If you have questions, feel free to contact us at ContainerOne.net.