Europe's Second Largest Port Launches Blockchain Logistics Pilot

The second largest port in Europe by container capacity is now running a pilot blockchain project focused on logistics automation.

Belgium-based Port of Antwerp has announced that it is looking to use the tech to automate and streamline the terminal's container logistics operations. The test is being conducted in conjunction with a blockchain startup called T-Mining.

The goal, port authorities said in a new release, is to speed up the interactions between port customers to prevent the malicious manipulation of data.

According to the terminal authority, moving containers from point to point often involves more than 30 different parties, including carriers, terminals, forwarders, haulers, drivers, shippers and more. This process results in hundreds of interactions between those parties, conducted through a mix of e-mail, phone and fax.

"The paperwork accounts for up to half of the cost of container transport," the authority noted.

The trial is the latest to center around shipping logistics and involve a notable player in the global terminal industry.

According to data from the World Shipping Council, the Port of Antwerp ranked fourteenth globally among container ports by terminal capacity in 2015. It's also the second largest in Europe after Rotterdam, which has been testing blockchain for logistical purposes as well.

And as CoinDesk reported earlier this year, Danish shipping giant Maersk completed its first live blockchain trial designed to simplify the shipping of trillions of dollars of goods around the world – signaling that it's not just the ports themselves that want to integrate blockchain into the shipping process.

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