Shanghai International Shipping Institute

FREIGHT forwarder Panalpina has joined the Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA), a forum of leading tech and transportation companies for the development and implementation of blockchain standards.

BiTA members aim to educate the market on blockchain applications and encourage their use through implementation. Blockchain creates a digital record of every transaction made in a decentralised and secure way using cryptography.

BiTA standards will address how the technology will impact contracts, freight payments, asset maintenance and ownership history and chain of custody of freight.

Other benefits of using blockchain technology range from better scalability of operations to optimised capacity monitoring and pricing, fewer errors in payment processing and auditing, improved compliance, easier identification of attempted fraud, theft prevention, ease of building trust and gaining real-time feedback from customers.

Panalpina said that blockchain use in freight forwarding and logistics is still in the early adoption phase, but it is already being approached by vendors, partners and customers about it, reported London's Air Cargo News.

Said Panalpina chief information officer Ralf Morawietz: "It is likely that many blockchain clusters will emerge around ports and customs authorities, carrier groupings, as well as third-party logistics providers and regional logistics networks."

Hamburg named Best Global Seaport as Shanghai gala

AFTER receiving two awards as Best Seaport in Europe in 2015 and in 2016 the Port of Hamburg has been acclaimed as the Best Global Seaport at a recent Shanghai gala sponsored by Asia Cargo News.

In the presence of 230 guests from the transport and logistics field, Hamburg was represented by Ding Ling from the Representative Office in Shanghai, who accepted the award on the port's behalf.

On the short-list, the Port of Hamburg held sway against the ports of Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore. The magazine's readers submitted their nominations to Asia Cargo News.

"We are pleased with what is now our third award from Asia Cargo News. And that even more so, since this time it is the award as best seaport in the world," said Port of Hamburg Marketing CEO Axel Mattern.

"This not only puts us ahead of the other competing ports in Europe, but also of the Asian ports. This shows that in international competition the Port of Hamburg scores with its great diversity of services and high handling quality," he said.

"Nor should we forget the Port of Hamburg's excellent hinterland infrastructure. In 2018, there are some 235 train services weekly in the market between Chinese destinations and Hamburg," Mr Mattern said.