Slashdot Mirror
IBM Completes Blockchain Trial Tracking a 28-Ton Shipment of Oranges (coindesk.com)
IBM recently completed a trial of blockchain technology to track a shipment of mandarin oranges from China to Singapore. From a report: Announced last week, 28 tons of mandarin oranges, or 3,000 cartons containing approximately 108,000 fruits, were delivered ahead of Chinese New Year celebration on Feb. 5 (mandarin oranges are a symbol of prosperity, IBM explained). The main shipping document, the bill of lading, was recorded on a blockchain. This document serves as a proof of ownership of goods, as a receipt of goods and a contract of the shipment, and normally it's mailed to all parties involved in the shipment, including banks providing trade financing.
For the pilot, IBM created an electronic bill of lading, or e-BL, which helped reduce and speed up administrative processes "to just one second" as the document flow is automated, the company claims -- while the standard paper-based procedure takes five to seven days. "By using the e-BL, we have seen how the entire shipment process can be simplified and made more transparent with considerable cost savings," Tay Khiam Back, the chairman and CEO of fruit importer Hupco, said in a press release.
For the pilot, IBM created an electronic bill of lading, or e-BL, which helped reduce and speed up administrative processes "to just one second" as the document flow is automated, the company claims -- while the standard paper-based procedure takes five to seven days. "By using the e-BL, we have seen how the entire shipment process can be simplified and made more transparent with considerable cost savings," Tay Khiam Back, the chairman and CEO of fruit importer Hupco, said in a press release.
Only if you think Consensus beats Authenticity. I'd somehow feel safer having signed documents where I can verify the digital signature, and trust the certificate chain. Even if the parties pre-arrange to use self-signed certificates.
Or maybe use the Consensus approach to Generate your self signed certificate, thus avoiding any CAs. That is a lot less computational work and waste of resources. You only generate your certificate occasionally. But you could use it to sign much more frequently.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
block chains either have to go to a central authority or they have to be distributed among a limited set of nodes that that sync to maintain the longest chain.
If you want it to be secure then I think that you either have to use a very expensive hash and pay the Miner (like bit coin proof of work) or you have to limit this to a distributed set of miner nodes that use a shared secret.
one of the other has to be in place I think because otherwise anyone coutd forge the chain if it's free to hash and not a closed set of trustee nodes.
Since were talking oranges , individually, then you need the cheap method with a centrally authorized set of approver nodes.
But if you are going to have such a centralized authority. Why not a regular old fashioned database?
I just don't understand what is special here about the block chain.
It does have some robust aspects of syncronizing a distributed set of approver nodes by consensus (longest chain wins). But that isn't really special and can be done with databases that synchronize too.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
And in this case, the weakness will be linking the blockchain to the physical goods. Anyone can still crack open the container and steal oranges during transit. A drug smuggler can still swap a shipment of oranges with a shipment of drugs by switching the labels. And the delivery guy can still take a snapshot of your package on your porch as "proof" it was delivered, then load it back up into his van and take it home.
It doesn't. Blockchain is one of the most over hyped technologies of the last two decades. There are some things where it might be useful but most of the time these companies are just using where a standard database would work just as well. Sometimes better. This is one of those times.
I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
The Bill Of Lading Electronic Registry Organization (BOLERO) has been allowing shipping companies to use electronic, cryptographically secured bills of lading for more than 20 years. Unfortunately they don't use !!!BLOCKCHAIN!!!, so obviously the IBM solution is the only real alternative to using paper Bills of Lading.
If intelligent life is too complex to evolve on its own, who designed God?
"...For the pilot, IBM created an electronic bill of lading, or e-BL, which helped reduce and speed up administrative processes âoeto just one secondâ as the document flow is automated, the company claims â" while the standard paper-based procedure takes five to seven days...."
Um, BLs are required to be produced within 48 hours of sailing, and that's been the standard since at least the 1980s. Usually it's less than that, and in fact with the implementation of ISF carriers are forced to issue BL numbers (the key bit) BEFORE THE VESSEL HAS EVEN SAILED (ISF is only relevant to the US, but I believe this process has ended up speeding BL# issuance worldwide anyway).
And a vanishingly small % of any shipments are issued with paper BL's anyway. I haven't seen a BL in the MAIL for 15+ years.
-Styopa