For a while now, the trucking industry has relied on various forms of technology and services. Somehow, truckers and fleet owners have managed to coordinate these independent things to work together in order to provide fast and accurate information to make logistics more efficient. Blockchain technology is poised to make things even easier for the trucking industry, eliminating a lot of the frustrations involved with configuring disparate services.
Eliminating Headaches
Many services and gadget that we use in the trucking industry are proprietary, by nature. The developers have their own interests in mind over how well their technology can be integrated into the trucking industry, or how nicely it plays with things already in use. Blockchain technology aims to remove the guesswork and frustration of proprietary technology by providing a more unified experience for drivers and fleet owners.
What Is Blockchain Technology?
Blockchain technology allows participating individuals and companies to create a roadmap of items being shipped. For truckers, blockchain technology allows people to drill down and see where shipment are going from pickup to delivery, right down to individual items withing the shipment itself. Higher up, manufacturers and distributors can track items from their source to the point of sale. Blockchain technology allows for much more detailed tracking.
Positive Implications
Blockchain technology increases security, safety, and decreases concerns about theft. On another level, if something happens as a result of a shipment, such as food poisoning or a batch of defective electronics, blockchain technology will allow people to trace the problem to individual shipments. This prevents huge financial losses that come with mass recalls on food and physical goods. Blockchain technology also means driver and fleets are not stuck in holding patterns waiting for a green light on delivering specific shipments. Trailers, pallets, crates, and individual items will be accounted for during every haul.
The Ability To Work From Any Point
Blockchain technology can also allow for analysis from the point of sale. An increase in sales of a particular item can allow participating producers, distributors, and drivers to allocate resources in anticipation of higher demand. Similarly, if someone posing as a driver shows up early to take a shipment, the stolen goods can be found within minute, as opposed to realizing a crime occurred hours after the fact. The new technology also gives destination points their expected deliveries in terms of minutes, instead of hours or days.
Who Is Developing This New Technology?
Blockchain technology is being developed by IBM, in conjunction with other companies that specialize in freight and logistics, as well as managing and migrating data. Express Freight Finance will bring you breakthroughs in blockchain developments as we receive them.