A new alliance between port logistics specialist 1-Stop Connections and TBSx3 will integrate blockchain into port security architecture to prevent fake medicines from reaching public consumption.
The alliance will support TBSx3 in its mission to eliminate fake products through software by combining its know-how with 1-Stop's multi-faceted platforms for port operations and logistic supply chain information.
A recent global road and sea supply chain trial proved that TBSx3's technology could be used to defeat criminals and reduce the time goods are delayed during custodial handovers and transshipment.
Partners in the trial included DP World Australia, one of the five largest port operators in the world, DB Schenker, a European land transport and global air and sea freight specialist, the container shipping line Hamburg Sud and Australian wine producer Ius.
KPMG verified the custodial handovers for the integrity of the product in the 8,100-kilometre chain, validated the product at the end of the chain and confirmed that the system could potentially detect fake or duplicated product.
The blockchain-based technology is likely to reach 1-Stop Connections' growing list of clients in South East Asia, New Zealand and Australia first.
Crime groups frequently use free trade zones to transship, label and obscure the port of origin of illegal goods.
The international police organization Interpol recently estimated that fake medicines now kill one million people each year.
Technical Paper: The Changing Face of Container Logistics
According to TBSx3 founder and director, Mark Toohey, the new alliance between 1-Stop Connections and TBSx3 is forming “an important step” in building a global consortium to ensure the integrity of product at every step of a supply chain from the farm and factory gate to the consumer.
Toohey commented: “Sea freight volumes have increased six-fold in 50 years. This huge growth has created opportunities for expertly packaged fake product including fake medicine that is killing huge numbers of people each year.”
“The international police agency, Interpol estimates that each year one million people die from fake medicine. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that of the people who die every year from malaria, one of the three great global killers, 200,000 die as a result of taking fake anti-malarials.”
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Michael Bouari, 1-Stop Connections CEO, added: “We have been keen to explore how blockchain technology could be best used in relation to trade.
“A new security benchmark for global supply chains is created when we combine TBSx3’s cryptography and blockchain security with our highly secure port community system ,- 1-Stop’s flagship product – Vehicle Booking System (VBS).
“1-Stop VBS dramatically cuts down on the time goods must spend in transshipment and integrates real time information about the status of goods anywhere within a port ecosystem.
“When goods can be moved quickly and when everyone within a port ecosystem knows exactly where they are, the opportunity to substitute fake for real is dramatically reduced.
“There is far less time for substitution and the identity of who is trying to affect the substitution can be better detected.
“The technology being developed by TBSx3 is of great interest because it combines the data currently held in silos by the various supply chain participants. Now we will all be able to have a new level of trusted transparency across the entire supply chain.”
