Newsletter 28-Jun-2018
Latest about Booking Deposit Module
In the past few weeks, we are going through rounds of system demo sessions with users and organizing various carrier-shippers groups to prepare users for their pilot launch.
All users who have tried our production system find the user front end intuitive. If you need a walk-through and have not seen an system demo invitation email from us. Please contact us here.
Recent Appearances at and Takeaways from Trade Conferences
Attending industry conferences has been a key strategy for us to reach out to the new potential users of our solution and listen to feedback. During 1H2018, we have attended numerous public events in US, Europe, Korea, China and Hong Kong, presented our Booking Deposit Module in front of thousands of audiences and met hundreds of industry participants in small group settings.
Blockchain is still a buzz word in the container shipping industry. Every blockchain related session that we attended is packed. Increasingly more industry participants have heard some basics about blockchain. But most of the people still do not think they have good understanding of the blockchain technology. Common questions are still about what, how or why such as below:
1. What does Blockchain do that cannot be done by other mainstream technologies?
2. How will performance, e.g. reliability, scalability and response time, of Blockchain solutions different from the more commonly used technologies?
3. Who is using Blockchain in supply chain?
4. Regarding the immutability features, what happens when reality changes?
5. How long will it take for a Blockchain solution become widely adopted?
6. How would Blockchain solution be able to protect private data?
7. Why started a Blockchain solution with a carrier as major shareholder?
8. What validation mechanism the permissioned blockchains offers to ensure data integrity?
In shipping, most of the complains about the existing information technology solutions is about data being stored in silo platforms, not updated accurately and timely. Like internet, blockchain provides another mean to the solutions for these pain points but blockchain itself is not the solution. First, blockchain’s de-intermediation, decentralization and open governance structure provide a level play field for collaboration among multiple parties. But a correct governance structure and incentive scheme are critical to encourage the competing parties to participate on the same platform. Second, the immutability of blockchain’s ledger construction provide a mean to avoid any data tampering. However, immutability do not equal data accuracy. The first data entry could be wrong. Last, blockchain’s ledger construction that requires multiple parties’ validation and consensus formation will inevitably require more time and resources than the centralized server solution.
What blockchain has proved very effective over the past 10 years is to facilitate the transaction of the digital assets e.g. crypto currencies. So use of blockchain and smart contract as escrow account like our Booking Deposit Module in our view is a proven application of blockchain. The digital asset transaction feature may naturally be applied for transaction of title of ownership e.g. bill of lading, deed when these documents are turned into digital form.
RILA, Phoenix and TPM, Long Beach — 26 February — 7 March 2018
Our first event this year took place in US West Coast. We participated in RILA’s (Retail Industry Leaders Association) Supply Chain Conference and Journal of Commerce’s TPM (Trans-Pacific Maritime) Conference, two of the most popular container shipping related events. We met many executives from NVO and BCO companies during these two events, which helped develop a large potential user base we have today. Our current advisory group consists of a strong group of industry veteran was also formed during the TPM.
Marine Money, Hong Kong — 12 April 2018
The Marine Money Conference is typically attended by executives from ship owning companies and professional services e.g. legal, finance and ship brokerage. We shared some of our thoughts on what blockchain can do and cannot do. What was more interesting are the follow-up meetings with the ship owning community, which are still on-going as we are writing this note. Many industry participants see the asset transfer mechanism in blockchain may provide a more secure option for documentation in ship S&P and negotiation of cargo ownership.
Inttra Tech Summit, Hamburg and , Blockchain Day, Berlin in April 2018
We talked about “Turning Innovation to Action in the Container Shipping Industry” at Inttra Tech Summit in Hamburg with representatives from Hapag Lloyd, Twill (a Maersk company), and INFORM. 160 executives from container liners, forwarding, BCOs and container shipping tech companies participated in this conference. Despite the continuous high interests in blockchain, some industry participants start to show some frustrations about what blockchain can help the industry. However, many in attendance picked “No Show” as one of the top pain points in container shipping. In the following week, we also attended the Blockchain Day in Berlin hosted by the DVV Group a leading transportation media company in Germany.
Crypto-related Seminars, South Korea — April 2018
Apart from industrial seminars, we also participated in 2 blockchain and crytpo related events in Apr. On 9-Apr, we attended “Blockchain Tomorrow 21” in Seoul, South Korea on stage to talk about how TEU disrupting the shipping industry. On 19-Apr, organized bycoinsuper.com, which is one of the top-20 crypto exchanges by trading volume, we talked about how TEU tokens connected the crypto into real world.
Shipping + Blockchain Forum, Shanghai — 28 May 2018
We attended a Shanghai shipping technology event hosted by www.ship.sh where a large number of China based shipping technologies start-ups participated. We presented our project and also spoke in a panel with other blockchain experts about application of blockchain technologies in shipping.
Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, 20 June 2018 Hong Kong
We presented our business case at Shipping and Transport Committee of HK General Commerce of Chamber, the oldest trade association in Hong Kong that dated before British Colony times. The opportunity allows us to come face to face with many industry leaders in not only the shipping areas but also the air freight areas where interesting have the same No Show problem as in container shipping.
