CargoHub

Fulfillment process on Blockchain Platform
ONE-RECORD Concept on this platform

Your solution and what it does:

Our solution brings all the parties in the Cargo chain on a platform powered by Blockchain and IPFS. The Airline can onboard partners on the platform and establish contracts with the partners. The platform provides a means to negotiate on the terms (revenue sharing, incentives, penalties etc.). Once the contract is finalized, a wallet is created for the partner, this wallet is linked to a virtual account.

While the broader solution covers the booking flows as well as, every booking made on the platform will establish the parties that will fulfill the shipment based on contracts. The booking component transfers the details of the booking to the fulfillment process. Any documents uploaded as part of the shipment details are stored in IPFS for sharing with the partners involved in the shipment. Our demo for the day details the fulfillment process, where all parties send events to the platform when fulfilling their part of the shipment, all the events are stored on the Blockchain. The airline makes payments to the wallets of their partners (Freight forwarders, Ground handlers, Trucking agencies etc.) as soon as their stage of the shipment is completed. This is done based on proof of delivery. The transactions on the wallet are also stored on the Blockchain. We will also demonstrate customs authorities approving of the shipment on the Blockchain. All the partners will be able to see their transaction history, the solution can be extended to generating invoices too or integrate with accounting/invoicing systems of the partners. The platform will also be extended to allow partners to transfer money from the wallet to a bank account of their choice when they choose to do so, this will not be demoed in the solution. All the features demonstrated are exposed through API’s making the platform developer friendly and enhancing adoption.

Your solution benefits:

Digitization of processes enabling automation which leads to efficiency
Data stored in a decentralized manner with each party having complete visibility into the journey of a shipment
Access control is enforced to ensure only authorized parties can make changes to specific entities of the shipment
Enables quicker settlements (Ex: upon proof of delivery), payment cycles can reduce from weeks to hours, this is even more relevant today where liquidity is very important. The approach that we have followed removes the need for manual reconciliation and dispute management.
Integrate with Airline Accounting systems or new forms of payments (Ex: Open Banking)
Approvals from customs without paper documents
The solution will be even more powerful when extended to group airlines or if managed by an alliance. Ex: a logistics supplier working with Air France in India will automatically be available to Delta as Air France has already approved of the Logistics partner
Since all details pertaining to the journey of the cargo is available on the Blockchain, claims processes can be faster and may be automated completely by Onboarding insurers on the platform. This may lead to airlines offering Insurance as an ancillary to shippers.

How did you build it?

We built this solution using technologies:

Blockchain - Hyperledger Fabric 2.2, (Contains 5 nodes – Freight forwarder 1, Customs at origin, Freight forwarder 2, Customs at destination and the Airline) UI - Angular, APIs – Node.js, Document Storage - IPFSDB API’s used - KLM API Collection

What are you proud of?

We are proud of coming up with a solution that

• will reduce carbon emissions and increased digitization • provides a platform for partners to work together and succeed together • provides greater transparency and trust amongst the partners in the Cargo industry • will be able to create new revenue models between partners • provides quick returns to partners for services offered

What is next step for your solution and how will you take that step?

• We see us enhancing the platform to comply with the IATA one record spec in its entirety. • Develop an adapter layer on top of Blockchain to ensure airlines that do not comply with the IATA One record spec can easily integrate with our platform • Work with Fintech’s to enhance the offering by integrating with virtual account providers in different geographies • Enhance document processing capabilities using Deep learning techniques to extract required information • Enhance the platform to store images of Cargo at various points in the journey augmented by image processing capabilities to detect damage of Cargo and help with claims