scholarly journals ‘‘Blocks of Lading"

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 306
Author(s):  
Jake Michael Herd

The bill of lading has, for centuries, been an integral component in the maritime shipping industry. However, the stagnation in the development of this legal instrument is contrasted with the exponential rate of development in other areas of commercial practice, which highlights the financial costs and delays associated with the use of bills of lading. The purpose of this paper is to present a modern alternative to the current paper-based bill of lading system that accounts for the practical and legal requirements of the incumbent instrument and also overcomes the deficiencies inherent in paper-based bills of lading. In the context of the regulatory uncertainty of bills of lading based on distributed ledger technology, this paper discusses approaches to regulating this new technology so as to achieve the same legal effects that the traditional, paper-based bill of lading provides. This paper presents two methods for regulating distributed ledger technology when applied to maritime shipping: the first is based on the principle of functional equivalence, which can be employed in domestic legislation, and the second is based on the Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records. I conclude that, while both approaches represent steps in the right direction, the latter would imbue this technology with sufficient legal certainty so as to spark a marine cargo carriage revolution and facilitate a productive disruption of the current industry practice. 

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 366
Author(s):  
Srdjan Vujičić ◽  
Nermin Hasanspahić ◽  
Maro Car ◽  
Leo Čampara

In recent years, many industries have adopted technology and digital systems to automate, expedite and secure specific processes. Stakeholders in maritime transport continue to exchange physical documents in order to conduct business. The monitoring of supply chain goods, communication among employees, environmental sustainability and longevity control, along with time framing, all create challenges to many industries. Everyday onboard work, such as cargo operations, navigation and various types of inspections in shipping, still requires paper documents and logs that need to be signed (and stamped). The conversion of traditional paper contracts into smart contracts, which can be digitalized and read through automation, provides a new wave of collaboration between eco systems across the shipping industry. Various data collected and stored on board ships could be used for scientific purposes. Distributed ledger technology (DLT) could be used to collect all those data and improve shipping operations by process expediting. It could eliminate the need to fill in various documents and logs and make operations safer and more environmentally friendly. Information about various important procedures onboard ships could be shared among all interested stakeholders. This paper considers the possible application of distributed ledger technology as an aid for the control of overboard discharge of wastewater from commercial ships. The intended outcome is that it could help protect the environment by sending data to relevant stakeholders in real time, thus providing information regarding the best discharge areas. The use of a structured communal data transference would ensure a consistent and accurate way to transmit data to all interested parties, and would eliminate the need to fill in various paper forms and logs. Wastewater overboard discharges would be properly monitored, recorded and measured, as distributed ledger technology would prevent any possibility of illegal actions and falsification of documents, thus ensuring environmental sustainability.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-33
Author(s):  
Daniel Tischer

This essay explores the organisational character of Facebook’s Libra currency by undertaking a critical reading of documents published by the Libra Association. Drawing on the conceptual work of Marilyn Strathern and Michel Serres, it illustrates how ownership cuts the network and encourages parasitism as a means of driving future profit. Central to this is the claim that Libra is not an exercise in democratising money, but rather, the opposite: Libra is run as a club, for the benefit of club members. The conceptual theme of 'cutting' is used to organise the argument. Rather than a cutting-edge technology, Libra’s true innovation is organisational and consists in overturning the decentralised character of blockchain, such that distributed ledger technology is re-centralised by big tech firms. Outsiders are thus cut-off from Libra; only those inside the club have the right to participate in Libra and its governance. This position also affords members an exclusive capacity to take a cut of the profits generated through Libra. As a private organisation, members have sole rights to future profits generated from the Libra ecosystem and are in this way incentivised to create new product opportunities over time.


2021 ◽  
Vol 190 ◽  
pp. 571-581
Author(s):  
Seryozha E. Melkonyan ◽  
Natali A. Galoyan ◽  
Anna N. Norkina ◽  
Pavel Yu. Leonov

Computers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 89
Author(s):  
Annegret Henninger ◽  
Atefeh Mashatan

The global supply chain is a network of interconnected processes that create, use, and exchange records, but which were not designed to interact with one another. As such, the key to unlocking the full potential of supply chain management (SCM) technologies is achieving interoperability across participating records systems and networks. We review existing research and solutions using distributed ledger technology (DLT) and provide a survey of its current state of practice. We additionally propose a holistic solution: a DLT-based interoperable future state that could enable the interoperable, efficient, reliable, and secure exchange of records with integrity. Finally, we provide a gap analysis between our proposed future state and the current state, which also serves as a gap analysis for many fractional DLT-based SCM solutions and research.


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