Paperless Bills of Lading – Blockchain Development
On Monday, it was revealed that a trial conducted by ZIM, an Israeli container shipping company, and Wave, a Canadian financial services company, to develop blockchain for the shipping industry was a success. In the trial, blockchain software from Wave was used to send the relevant transportation documents electronically, such as the bill of lading, to all the necessary parties involved. This meant that all members in the supply chain are connected through a decentralized network and can directly exchange files with each other.
This new system uses distributed ledger technology to make sure that shipping and trade documents are issued, transferred, signed and organized by all the participants. Wave’s application prevents disputes, forgeries and risks by using the blockchain to manage the ownership of shipping and trade documents. Shippers and traders can use this new application at no cost and it doesn’t cause any IT or operational modifications. Generating these documents digitally means reduced costs, quick transfers of originals and no errors. Overall, it could be very advantageous for the supply chain.
To read more about this development, click here.
Loblaw orders recently unveiled Tesla Semi’s
This week, after Tesla unveiled their new all-electric heavy-duty semi-trucks, Loblaw, the biggest Canadian supermarket chain based in Ontario, announced it had pre-ordered 25 of the trucks to deliver food to its stores. The company intends on electrifying its fleet to achieve their environmental strategy and sustainability goals of reducing its overall carbon footprint by 2030, and using the new range of Tesla’s trucks would support this. By 2030, Loblaw believes the emissions that it produces from transportation will be reduced by 25 percent.
Generally, the new electric semi-trucks are more receptive and travel a further distance than a diesel truck over the same time period. When they are fully loaded, they have a range of 800 kilometers and consume less than two kilowatt-hours of energy per mile, which would reduce fuel costs by $200,000 over 1.6 million kilometers. Walmart has also pre-ordered 15 of the new vehicles and JB Hunt ordered 40. However, it is predicted that the Tesla trucks won’t be delivered until 2019.
To find out more about this, click here.
Locus Robotics to develop new warehouse robots
On Monday, Locus Robotics, a leading warehouse robotics solution provider, announced it had raised $25 million in funding from Scale Venture Partners. The company offers effective ecommerce fulfillment operations so that retailers and third-party logistics (3PL) operators can meet the changing demands of the thriving e-commerce market. Locus Robotics intends to use the series B funding to expand into new markets, such as Asia, and develop new robots for warehouse fulfillment operations as the market for logistics robots is rising and it is becoming expensive to hire warehouse workers.
Current autonomous mobile robots are synced with warehouse management systems and help workers manage orders more efficiently as the robots can travel down aisles faster, and as a result, fill orders quicker. The company plans to develop their robotic products by extending its technology so that inventory can be tracked and returned items can be processed. The company also intends on boosting their sales and marketing efforts.
More information can be found here.
Have a great weekend!
Header photo: ESB Professional/shutterstock.com
1 comment
[…] you can see from my last wrap-up, the new Tesla electric semi-trucks are a big talking point in the automotive industry. On […]
Comments are closed.