The Port of Rotterdam, Europe’s largest shipping port, is taking part in a Blockchain consortium which is focusing on logistics, reported Coin Desk.
The project will receive support from many organisations and institutions in the Netherlands, including ABN Amro, Delft University, Royal Flora Holland, Windesheim University of Applied Sciences and the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research.
Consortium members will test applications for sharing logistical and contractual information between parties over the next two years.
Johan Pouwelse, an associate professor at Delft and project manager, said: “This project involves more than just talking about possibilities – we're really going to apply the technology.”
This is not the first time in 2016 that shipping insitutions have announced their association with Blockchain, PTI recently reported that Maersk had been investigating the ways in which operations involving paper based bills of lading can be revolutionised with the use of Blockchain.
With the larger and larger TEU capacity ships being built and ports becoming larger, the list of applications for technology that produces logistical efficiency seems to be getting longer; the age of automation has opened the doors to the supply chain for the kinds of technology that Blockchain creates.