Shipping To Utilise Blockchain?

By Rishma Banerjee

On March 27, the China Shipbuilding Industry Company Limited (CSICL), one of the largest shipbuilding conglomerates in China, signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Shanghai Bank to develop and implement supply chain services.
As reported by the official Chinese newspaper People’s Daily, this collaboration will end in a joint venture to develop a blockchain-based China Ship-Shangyin online supply chain financial platform for CSIC’s upstream suppliers.

The CSCK long been an essential strategic customer of the Bank of Shanghai, as the bank has provided credit service for CSIC Logistics as well as supply chain financing solutions for their upstream suppliers.

Now, with the signing of this strategic blockchain-based supply chain agreement, the scope of the two entities collaboration will expand past the traditional credit business.

Also according to the report, the Shanghai Bank’s agreement with CSIC is a part of the bank’s plan to improve business processes using innovative technologies such as blockchain. This is, in fact, the Bank’s second development in this area.

In October of last year, Shanghai Bank reportedly launched an online supply chain financial service platform called Uplink e-Chain, which services a variety of small and medium-sized enterprises.

If there’s one area beside the finance industry that blockchain technology is poised to change in a big way, it’s the supply chain management industry.

Blockchain tech is making big advancements in this industry, as it has the power to revolutionize the way businesses manage data through collecting, tracking, aggregating, disseminating, and above all ensuring its integrity.

There are already a number of promising blockchain projects trying to revolutionize the supply chain industry, including OriginTrail (TRAC), VeChain (VET), WaltonChain (WTC), Ambrosus (AMB), Tael (WABI), and more.

Also, in addition to the CSIC adopting blockchain-based supply chain management systems, other large and well-established companies are innovating in this area. One such company is the software development company Oracle Corp, who launched a suite of blockchain-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications.

All in all, we can expect to see a lot more companies in the supply chain industry begin to adopt blockchain technology throughout the course of the year and onwards, but it looks like China aims to get a headstart.

Rishma Banerjee

Rishma is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in International Relations and has a special place in her life for sifting through all sorts of random trivia, thank you very much.

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