As ports and other supply chain players move from theory to practice in their distributed ledger and blockchain deployments, one of the first decisions that arises is how the blockchain should be structured.
This often boils down to “Should we use a public blockchain or private blockchain – and how should the permissions be structured”? As with most technologies, there are several ways to design a solution to best suit the needs of the organization.
However, given the early stages of the technology and the strong philosophical debates still present within this space, these decisions can be daunting and difficult to navigate. How can ports and their port community systems think through this process?
Industry decision-makers need to be able to sort through marketing hype to pick the best solution.
For instance, some blockchain technology providers in the industry have made claims such as “We’re the first ever truly neutral system” or “We’re the only public solution” or “Our private blockchain is best positioned to protect your data”. Port professionals understandably need help evaluating such claims, some of which are inevitably misleading or inaccurate.
