Marine Transport International (MTI), an industry-leading freight forwarder based in the United Kingdom and the United States, has announced a successful blockchain pilot which demonstrated that the technology will lead to improved connectivity, efficiency, and security in the logistics industry.

The results of the pilot have been verified by scientists at the University of Copenhagen and maritime technology leads at Blockchain Labs for Open Collaboration (BLOC). MTI, in collaboration with Agility Sciences, has released a whitepaper which details the deployment of the Container Streams system in a supply chain environment.

"This pilot demonstrates the great potential for distributed ledger technologies to be used in improving supply chain processes. The Container Streams system is unique in the fact that it does not require the complete replacement of existing systems - instead, MTI's solution allows complete interoperability with existing legacy infrastructure,” Karim Jabbar, from the Department of Computer Science at the University of Copenhagen, said.

According to the official release, the project involved connecting supplier, shipper, load point, customs, and terminal on a shared blockchain ledger. MTI said that all parties involved in the supply chain benefit from automated data flows as the system allows complete interoperability of data sources, even including legacy systems.

Commenting on the successful blockchain pilot, Jody Cleworth, CEO of Marine Transport International, said:

"The results of this successful pilot demonstrate the strengths of blockchain technology when deployed to link the various actors in the supply chain. We are confident that firms throughout the logistics industry will see a broad spectrum of benefits stemming from blockchain deployment. The blockchain has proven to be an excellent way of connecting the different parties involved in any supply chain environment due to the transparency and security-by-design of the technology.”

Further noting the increase in industrial-scale cyberattacks in the shipping industry, Cleworth said:

"A blockchain-enabled supply chain is highly resilient to cyberattack - a copy of the essential shipping data is stored on each node on a decentralised network, meaning that even if one node is compromised, the data is safe nevertheless.

Last September, MTI announced the deployment of a public blockchain solution in the global shipping industry.

FxWirePro launches Absolute Return Managed Program. For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/invest