Insights - March/April 2018 - 26

can tie together disparate information systems through the
use of DLT.
The distributed ledger will be an improvement over current information systems, because all portions of a movement
through the intermodal supply chain will be recorded on a single
blockchain or multiple DLTs that are linked instead of on separate
systems, Kingston said.
"There will be stronger data ties among the members of the
distributed ledger. As a result of this, there will be far greater
efficiency and security across the commercial sector," Kingston
said. "The biggest disruption will come in the back offices.
Documents still flow through email and other old processes,
as opposed to the flows that take place along a smart contract

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designed to solve these problems."
"The industry needs and wants standards," said Kingston,
because of the broad recognition of the cost, efficiency and
security benefits once they are developed.
"Standards are always a challenge," McLeod said, noting that
BiTA has engaged a third-party development group to accelerate
the process and reduce risk. "The BiTA standards will be open
license and targets first results by late May with ongoing
technical working groups continuing on several fronts."
Efforts to create standards, "will allow disparate blockchains
between supply chain partners to interact with one another in
standard data transmission formats," McLeod said. That will
encourage information flow across modes.
Collaboration among various
consortia, such as BiTA and the Wall
Street Blockchain Initiative, will be key to
determining how soon standards will be
practically implemented, said McLeod. "It
will not take years [to develop standards]
if these other consortia successfully
collaborate with BiTA and other
organizations."
"The value will only be realized
through standards-based blockchain
development," he said. "Otherwise we
will be creating another electronic data
interchange type of situation. Blockchains
can still work in a non-standardsbased environment, but the promised
efficiencies will never be realized."
Elenjickal praised blockchain as
"a disruptive force that will benefit all
participants. The reality is that it will
take a few years [for standards] given
the immense fragmentation of the
ecosystem [and] the newness of the
technology."

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26 Intermodal Insights | March/April 2018

Blockchain Progress
In the intermodal sector, there has
been progress overseas. "Cross-border
boundaries and documentation are easier
there," Leonard said.
One intermodal example he cited was
in China, where sensors were put on wine
labels to ensure that the wine in the bottle
matched the contents described on the
label while it was shipped intermodally by
truck and vessel. Information about the
shipments was accelerated from a 6 to
8-day process to as little as 12 hours.
Government agencies in Dubai and
Israel will require blockchain for freight
documents within a few years.
There are still no U.S. examples of
blockchain in intermodal transport, Leonard said, in part because U.S. Customs,
which would have to be involved, hasn't
yet embraced the concept.

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Insights - March/April 2018