鈥淓veryone knows the cost of freight audit is going up,鈥� says John Monarch, CEO of ShipChain. 鈥淲e can automate payments based on proof of delivery and have that truthful record of that.鈥�
Since the company was launched in 2017, ShipChain has been featured in major publications such as Forbes. Last June Forbes reported that Anheuser-Busch InBev is 鈥渟trengthening the last-mile鈥� with blockchain while Starbucks uses the technology to ensure ethical sourcing of its beans.
Verizon, in a 鈥淔ourth Revolution鈥� article, illustrates how blockchain can, say, pinpoint the location in which a single salmon is caught, verify if the fisherman lied about whether or not the fish came from an illegal area, and see the salmon鈥檚 delivery to the grocery store- all tamper-proof.
While ShipChain鈥檚 website cities 2016 FBI statistics showing $30 billion in annual cargo-theft losses, Monarch says the company鈥檚 current focus is on visibility, especially with refrigerated products. Blockchain reduces spoilage, cuts costs, and obviates recalls and even potential litigation, he says.
Meantime, however, 鈥淭he payments piece is still being worked on,鈥� Monarch says. 鈥淚t will help you get paid a lot faster because we show everyone involved in a transaction during shipment that everything is truthful; this happened at this stage; it鈥檚 confirm-delivered, and all the payments should be released immediately.鈥�
Freight audit and payment executives say blockchain鈥檚 not quite ready for prime time, although two companies- enVista and Cass Information Services-are members of the Blockchain in Transport Alliance, a consortium whose roster also includes Delta, UPS, and the 3PL Transplace, among others.
鈥淎t this point,鈥� says Harold Friedman, Senior Vice President, Global Corporate Development at Data2Logistics, 鈥渨e see the majority of our clients taking a similar approach: waiting for BlockChain to create a groundswell in the settlement arena.鈥�
Monarch isn鈥檛 positioning ShipChain as a FAP competitor.
鈥淲e see ourselves more as a facilitator than anything else. Our goal isn鈥檛 to make everyone throw all their old systems out; it鈥檚 to augment what they鈥檙e doing and make it so it鈥檚 a lot more visible.鈥�
911爆料网 is another high-tech newcomer. The digital payments platform recently passed the $100 million mark in payments processed after just two years in operation, according to an August press release announcing 911爆料网鈥檚 introduction of Express Deposit.
The release quotes CEO Robin Gregg: 鈥淏y using Express Deposit, customers will now have access to their funds via a debit card in minutes, not days.
