ABN Amro has completed the first instantly financed, door-to-door transport of a container from a factory in Asia to the Netherlands on blockchain-based platform Deliver.
The Dutch bank began work on the container logistics pilot in October last year with the Port of Rotterdam Authority and Samsung SDS.
Currently, the physical, administrative and financial streams within international freight distribution steams are carried out in separate flows.
Edwin van Bommel, chief innovation officer at ABN Amro says: “We are strongly committed to help our clients in their process to fully automate their trade flows. All parties involved in the trade flow will benefit from more effective controls, greater efficiency, transparency and traceability.”
With the PoC behind it, the bank says it plans to open up the pilot to multiple shippers from various industries and acting in different trade lanes.
"With these pilots we will be integrating all the supply chain flows: from workflow management combined with track & trace to the digitisation of paper documentation such as waybills and the financing of handled freight or services," says van Bommell. "The ultimate objective is to reach an open, independent and global platform that operates from the perspective of shippers."