Using Distributed Ledger Technologies to Support Complex Supply Chains

The concept of blockchain, as part of distributed ledger technologies, has gained a lot of interest recently, especially in cryptocurrencies. With the addition of other technical capabilities, e.g., smart contracts and oracles, this interest has spread to other areas as well and affects a wide variety of business processes such as supply chain processes. However, in research, the wide variety of processes finds inadequate consideration to date. In this research paper, we provide an overview of the state of the art of distributed ledger technologies in supply chains and point out future research topics. Therefore, we conducted a structured literature review, systematized potential application areas in supply chain processes, and showed that research gaps exist. To address the research gaps, we derived open research questions, whereby conducting design studies to deal with the practical problems in the application areas plays a central role

Beyond The Hype:How Blockchain Affects Supply Chain Performance

Purpose: This paper aims to contribute to the debate about the value of blockchain for supply chain management by assessing empirical evidence on the relationship between blockchain and supply chain performance. Design/methodology/approach: The authors conducted a structured review of the academic literature to identify and assess papers providing empirical insight on operational blockchain applications. The authors complement the findings from this review with primary empirical data from 11 interviews with blockchain providers, users and experts involved in four recent projects. Findings: The paper presents an integrated research framework that illustrates the impact of blockchain on supply chain performance. The findings highlight that blockchain can affect supply chain performance directly – via one of its core technological features – and indirectly via the broader business project through which blockchain technology is implemented. Practical implications: Insights from this paper should provide managers with a more nuanced understanding of how blockchain technology can be leveraged to address important supply chain management challenges. Originality/value: Prior research addressing the relationship between blockchain and supply chain performance mostly discusses potential performance effects of blockchain, presents individual blockchain applications and/or provides little explanation for how the core technological features of blockchain affect supply chain performance. This paper systematically assesses the ways in which blockchain can affect supply chain performance. In doing so, it goes beyond the initial hype around blockchain technology while countering some of the more recent critiques

Blockchain conceptual framework in shipping and port management

The purpose of the paper is to present a conceptual framework of blockchain (BC) deployment in shipping and port management, which encompasses distributed relational database (DB) and crypto-currency payment mechanism as main constructs. The core of the model is TradeLens platform. The document workflow management, financial processes and device connectivity are key scenarios in the proposed framework. The stakeholders play the role of traditional intermediaries in goods, accompanied data, and documents flows, including overall supervision of the processes between end-nodes, that is shippers (consignees) and customers (consumers). The paper identifies some strengthens and frailty of blockchain-based maritime supply chain system and proposes further investigation in this domain, towards better understanding prospective development of blockchain across maritime cluster.Peer Reviewe

A Review of Blockchain Technology Implementation in Shipping Industry

This article presents a comprehensive review of the current and rising trends of blockchain technology usage in shipping industry. The definition and features of blockchain technology are provided, as well as the potential usage of blockchain technology in various areas (financial services, Internet of Things, medicine, government, etc.), in order to better understand its complexity and application. Furthermore, the major challenges of blockchain technology are shown, and the most prominent examples of blockchain applications in shipping industry are provided. The application and advantages of blockchain technology in seaports are demonstrated through several examples

Secure Seaport Management System using Blockchain Technology

Worldwide, shipping documents are still primarily created and handled in the traditional paper manner. Processes taking place in shipping ports as a result are time-consuming and heavily dependent on paper. Shipping documents are particularly susceptible to paperwork fraud because they involve numerous parties with competing interests. With the aid of smart contracts, a distributed, shared, and append-only ledger provided by blockchain technology allows for the addition of new records. In order to increase maritime transport and port efficiency and promote economic development, this paper examines current maritime sector developments in Iraq and offers a paradigm to secure the management system based on a hyper-ledger fabric blockchain platform. The performance evaluation of the proposed system implies two scenarios: one organization and two organizations by examining throughput and latency. High transaction transmission rates on large block sizes produced positive results. Similarly, employing a small block size and higher send rates results in poor performance. Additionally, it was noted that throughput will decrease and latency will rise as the number of organizations increases. Block size and block timeouts should be high in applications with many concurrent transactions in order to maintain good throughput

Performance Analysis of Blockchain Platforms

Blockchain technologies have drawn massive attention to the world these past few years mostly because of the burst of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Etherium, Ripple and many others. A Blockchain, also known as distributed ledger technology, has demonstrated huge potential in saving time and costs. This open-source technology which generates a decentralized public ledger of transactions is widely appreciated for ensuring a high level of privacy through encryption and thus sharing the transaction details only amongst the participants involved in the transactions. The Blockchain is used not only for cryptocurrency but also by various companies to meet their business ends, such as efficient management of supply chains and logistics. The rise and fall of numerous crypto-currencies based on blockchain technology have generated debate among tech-giants and regulatory bodies. There are various groups which are working on standardizing the blockchain technology. At the same time, numerous groups are actively working, developing and fine-tuning their own blockchain platforms. Platforms such as etherium, hyperledger, parity, etc. have their own pros and cons. This research is focused on the performance analysis of blockchain platforms which gives a comparative understanding of these platforms