photo: UIRR / Public domain/Tracks
RAILTARGET brings you live coverage from today's eagerly awaited webinar on "Document Management and Blockchain Technologies in an Intermodal Context," focusing on the critical role of document management in enhancing efficiency, ensuring compliance, and promoting collaboration within the transport and logistics sector.
With a spotlight on the implications of policy initiatives like the eFTI Regulation and the Waste Regulation, the webinar features leading service providers discussing their innovative approaches and the transformative potential of blockchain technology in a multistakeholder, intermodal environment.
9:35 Eric Feyen, Technical Director at UIRR, sets the stage today with a brief introduction to the webinar. He outlines the day's agenda, emphasizing the essential role of digital documentation in transforming the intermodal transport sector.
With a lineup featuring the ESEP4FREIGHT project presentation and insights from leading ICT providers like Pionira, Docklab, TransFollow, and d-fine, the webinar offers solutions for digital documentation, promising to redefine efficiency and collaboration in the transport and logistics industry.
9:40 Celestino Sánchez, the Technical Coordinator at EURNEX, presents the ambitious goals of the ESEP4FREIGHT project.
The initiative is focused on unifying a broad spectrum of stakeholders within the European logistics landscape to pinpoint their information requirements. The project aims to develop, integrate, and validate a suite of web-based information services on an open-access platform. Furthermore, it seeks to deliver recommendations for aligning the current contractual and legal frameworks with the operational needs of intermodal transport, ensuring all players in the field can benefit from these advancements.
Delving deeper, Sánchez details the strategic approach that encompasses both research and development phases. The project begins with thorough data collection, innovation assessments, and analysis of freight flows, combined with a study of the contractual and legal framework necessary for smart contracts implementation.
The web platform is at the core of the development phase and is designed to be an all-encompassing tool for stakeholders. It features an interactive map, a route viewer, a CO2 calculator, a schedule viewer, a matchmaking tool, and a contract toolbox, all aimed at increasing the accessibility and management of freight information.
Sánchez progresses the discussion to the cutting edge of logistics with the Smart Contract Implementation Pilot. This initiative is set to deepen the sector's understanding of blockchain technology, using the e-CMR as a stepping stone.
9:45 Eric Feyen, Technical Director at UIRR, takes the stage presenting the "The digital ecosystem of intermodal transport" part of the webinar. He points out the influx of new market entrants like Amazon, which is expanding its logistics footprint. Customers now demand high reliability and precise real-time information, such as expected time of arrival and booking details.
Continuing with the presentation, Eric Feyen delves into the key elements of the combined transport ecosystem. He details the importance of various stakeholders, including shippers, logistics service providers (LSPs), terminal operators, rail infrastructure entities, railway undertakings (RUs), wagon keepers, receivers, and authorities, all of whom play an important role in the seamless execution of combined transport operations.
9:50 Feyen addresses the critical shift from paper to digital in document management within intermodal transport. He outlines the prevalent issues with paper documents, such as the risks of them being lost, illegible, inaccessible, and hindering financial operations due to a lack of traceability.
On the flip side, he presents the numerous advantages of digitalization, which include easier access to documents, cost reduction, enhanced data security, improved productivity, more efficient data storage and retrieval, and environmental benefits.
9:55 Eric Feyen outlines the challenges in intermodal transport documentation, such as the lack of standardization and complex processes that impede efficiency, advocating for unified standards and digital solutions like EDI and blockchain technology to streamline these processes and improve communication across various transport modes.
10:00 Marc Henniges from d-fine simplifies the concept of blockchain, describing it as a database with added features that enhance the value of data. He explains that while the internet allows for the sharing of information, it lacks a mechanism to prevent duplication, whereas blockchain technology provides a 'proof of ownership' for digital items, preventing issues like double-spending in cryptocurrencies.
He addresses common misconceptions about blockchain technology and clarifies that blockchain is distinct from Bitcoin, not inherently bad for the environment, has applications beyond finance, doesn't make all data public, and tackles real-world problems, debunking myths and highlighting the technology's broader potential and security features.
10:05 Marc Henniges explains smart contracts as programs within the blockchain network that execute deterministically, operate independently of the creator, and can verify execution and modify the ledger state. He clarifies that contrary to some beliefs, smart contracts are not legal contracts and don't serve as a method to enforce legal agreements, but rather, they allow for the sharing of logic and data between parties in a secure and trustless environment.
10:10 Henniges elaborates on identifying "blockchain problems" by asking key questions related to data ownership, immutability requirements, proof of ownership, and shared business logic. The affirmative answers to these questions suggest a strong case for applying blockchain technology to the issue at hand, leveraging its unique capabilities to address specific needs within the given context.
He presents a practical application of blockchain in asset management, showing how smart contract platforms can streamline complex contract management processes. By distributing and securing leases, loans, service agreements, insurance, inspection, due diligence, and maintenance contracts on a blockchain, stakeholders like asset managers, banks, and service providers can operate more efficiently and with greater transparency.
10:15 Marc Henniges presents how blockchain technology is reshaping digital identities, emphasizing the decentralization aspect that adds layers of efficiency. He explains that issuers can provide verifiable credentials, which users can manage and control securely, presenting them to verifiers as needed without the verifier needing to contact the issuer at the moment of verification, thus ensuring the user's control over personal data and the portability of their claims.
10:20 Dr. Lisa Löbling from d-fine takes the stage to present the eFTI (electronic Freight Transport Information) initiative. She explains that eFTI is designed to unify various digital freight documents onto a single platform, aligning with regulatory objectives like the Combined Transport Directive.
This integration includes the electronic consignment note (eCMR), the electronic CIM consignment note (eCIM), the electronic Sea Waybill (eSWB), and the electronic Air Waybill (eAWB), as well as digital documents for dangerous goods information. These digital solutions are set to simplify manual processes and add value both economically and ecologically.
Löbling continues her presentation, delving into the regulatory landscape of the electronic Freight Transport Information (eFTI) platform. She outlines a new ecosystem where the flow of digital information between consignors, carriers, insurance entities, control authorities, and consignees is centralized and streamlined.
10:30 Stefan Gevaert, Pionira, takes the stage with "e-Freight Documents as a Service" presentation. He starts by showcasing the transformation in the road transport sector, contrasting the traditional process involving paper-based CMR documents with the streamlined workflow after adopting electronic CMR (eCMR).
Gevaert highlights that with eCMR, drivers present digital documents, simplifying the signing process upon delivery and unloading. This digital shift reduces paperwork and can seamlessly integrate with customers' Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) or Transportation Management Systems (TMS), leading to increased automation and efficiency across the supply chain.
He introduces the EWASTRA Platform, a tool designed to facilitate secure and trusted collaboration among multiple stakeholders in the logistics chain such as shippers, carriers, and consignees. He emphasizes the platform's focus on lifecycle management rather than static documents, ensuring that all interested parties are notified and can actively engage throughout the various stages of the shipment's lifecycle.
10:35 Gevaert discusses the UNECE e-CMR protocol, focusing on Article 3 concerning the authentication of the electronic consignment note. He explains that the protocol presumes the reliability of an electronic signature if it meets specific criteria: it must be uniquely linked to and capable of identifying the signatory, created using secure methods under the signatory's sole control, and connected to the data in such a way that any alterations are detectable.
He presents the FENIX pilot project, focusing on the multimodal transport of waste. Gevaert outlines how the integration of eFTI/UN eCMR datasets with the PIONIRA FENIX Connector and the PIONIRA eWastra Platform enables a seamless flow of information from waste producers to waste recycling facilities.
This system facilitates communication across all stakeholders, including authorities, and leverages digital solutions to enhance transparency and efficiency in the waste transport sector.
10:40 Stefan Gevaert concludes his presentation by discussing the ONEAPP for authorities concerning the FENIX pilot project, which deals with multimodal transport of waste. The ONEAPP serves as a central node, interfacing between various enterprise resource planning (ERP), transport management systems (TMS), warehouse management systems (WMS), and the EU-Gate e-CMR/eFTI Access Point.
He mentions that the project faces challenges, notably eFTI's ongoing development and the involvement of multiple key stakeholders such as waste producers, waste processing plants, carriers, terminals, barge operators, rail operators, and authorities.
10:55 Wout Frijters from Docklab speaks on blockchain for business, detailing it as a decentralized network that offers a transparent, immutable, and timestamped ledger for transactions, facilitating trust and traceability.
11:05 Frijters presents blockchain's role in logistics, highlighting a prototype for a multimodal shipment documentation platform. This platform centralizes the digitization, management, and sharing of documents needed for shipping, fostering collaboration among stakeholders.
Additionally, he discusses the benefits of digital customs declarations, which have become increasingly relevant since Brexit, emphasizing how digitalization can reduce border delays and boost efficiency.
11:25 As the webinar concludes, Eric Feyen, re-emphasizes the critical role blockchain technologies and effective document management play in the logistics and intermodal transport sectors. He underscores how these innovations contribute to the advancement of supply chain management, ensuring secure, transparent, and efficient processes that are essential for the future of trade and transport.
This concludes the webinar on 'Document Management and Blockchain Technologies in an Intermodal Context.' Thank you for tuning in with RAILTARGET for the live coverage.