- The blockchain platform was built by GSBN to accelerate digital transformation of the shipping industry
- GSBN is a consortium of global shipping lines and terminal operators accounting for one in every three containers handled in the world
- The blockchain was developed by GSBN in partnership with Oracle, Microsoft, AntChain and Alibaba Cloud
The new blockchain platform built by Global Shipping Business Network (GSBN) to track one third of all shipping containers in the world has officially gone live.
GSBN in a release last week said the blockchain platform was built in partnership with Oracle, Microsoft, AntChain and Alibaba Cloud with the aim to accelerate the digital transformation of the shipping industry.
GSBN is an independent technology consortium first founded by eight global shipping lines and terminal operators accounting for one in every three containers handled in the world.
Its members include COSCO SHIPPING Lines, COSCO SHIPPING Ports, Hapag-Lloyd, Hutchison Ports, OOCL, SPG Qingdao Port, PSA International, and Shanghai International Port Group.
According to GSBN, its mission is to accelerate digital transformation in the global trade sector through the setup of a not-for-profit, secure data exchange that will facilitate the sharing of verified logistics data, streamline operations across the entire supply chain, and create value for all parties involved.
The consortium said it chose a best-of-breed approach to technology to ensure the infrastructure is strong, reliable and highly scalable. To ensure the control of data by GSBN members, data is encrypted before it is sent to the GSBN platform; hence, the consortium cannot see the data without the members’ authorization.
To build the underlying blockchain network for its global trade operating system, GSBN partnered with Oracle to harness its Oracle Blockchain platform in Oracle Cloud, which is recognized as one of the leading distributed ledger platforms for building an enterprise-grade, permissioned blockchain. By using blockchain technology, GSBN enables collaboration between disparate and often competing market participants.
For the platform layer, GSBN harnessed Microsoft Azure Southeast Asia Region in Singapore for its high scalability, functionality and security. Furthermore, Azure’s Availability Zones ensure high service reliability and availability.
For deployment in China, Ant Group’s AntChain was selected. With its blockchain, secure computing, IoT and other innovative technologies, AntChain provides an enterprise-grade, efficient and reliable platform, and was listed by research firm IDC as the top-ranked provider in the blockchain-as-a-service market of China in 2020.
This is further supported by Alibaba Cloud, which has been recognized as first in Asia Pacific for infrastructure as a service by research firm Gartner in the past few years.
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
