Australian blockchain company TBSx3 announced the successful completion of largest trials of the technology in order to secure cargo across the global supply chain and tackle the issue of fake goods, The Australian Business Review, reported.

According to the company founder Mark Toohey, the announcement is the first step in combating the trade of counterfeit goods. The blockchain-based verification system developed by TBSx3 offers military-grade security across global supply chains. The trial was shipping of was a bottle of wine from producer Ius from South Australia to China.

“A ‘whole of chain’ global supply chain security environment that has a military precision and force, and that can constantly monitor product movements anywhere at any time, is an absolute necessity. A bits and pieces security mosaic is no longer enough,” Toohey stated.

TBSx3 has received co-operation of some of the biggest names in the freight business for the trial including DP World Australia, DB Schenker and Hamburg Sud, among others. KPMG took part in the blockchain trial by its advice to TBSx3 and verified the handovers for the integrity of the product during its journey from Coonawarra in South Australia to the port of Qingdao in northeastern China.

According to estimates by OECD, the global trade in fake goods is worth nearly $US500 billion a year and also international police agency Interpol has estimated that fake pharmaceuticals kill more than a million people each year. Toohey stated that these are due to the lack of transparency.

The blockchain makes the transaction transparent for customers and consists of every link in how goods are created, distributed and delivered to them. The blockchain solution by TBSx3 manages every custodial link during the journey of the goods and makes sure that the product at the end of the chain is genuine.

“In terms of the numbers of partners simultaneously involved and the challenges posed for resolution of integration with multiple existing proprietary security systems, we believe this can be developed to become a new security benchmark,” Anthony Bertini, chairman of TBSx3, said.