Why Logistics Is The Only Sector in Which Blockchain Doesn’t Fail

The global logistics giant UPS has applied for registration of a patent for the use of blockchain technologies in delivery processes. The application published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office demonstrates the company's interest in the blockchain, which will open new horizons in the cargo delivery system. This, in turn, will give users the opportunity to trace in detail all the way that the package has done.

The concept named “Autonomous services selection system and distributed transportation database(s)" implies the usage of a distributed registry network to store various data, including information about where the parcel should be delivered, its movements and types of transportation.

It’s worth mentioning that other transport companies also consider the blockchain as an integral part of the shipment in their future. For example, recently the Swiss logistics company CEVA Logistics has announced its participation in a joint project of IBM and Maersk's. The companies launched the TradeLens blockchain platform aimed to strengthen supply chains. The company itself called the initiative "an answer to the untapped potential of blockchain applications in the logistics industry”.

Moreover, the delivery of goods using the blockchain has ceased to be something of a "plan for the future" and has broken into the real life. For example, in July, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia with the help of blockchain successfully tracked the shipment of 17 tons of almonds from the Sunraysia in Victoria, Australia, to German Hamburg. The use of technology made it possible to control not only the location of the cargo but also the temperature, humidity and other important indicators for delivery at any time. All data were displayed online, regardless of where the cargo was.

All this quite rightly suggests that the ubiquitous blockchain is successfully used in the field of logistics — the only one where the blockchain is mastered without problems. Unlike energy, where blockchain is difficult to implement technologically, and the notarial and banking systems, where this technology solves fewer problems than it creates.