Australia’s First Blockchain Supply System Unveiled At Brisbane’s Port

The consulting giant PriceWaterCoopers (PwC) has finally introduced the new ‘trade community system’ that is powered by blockchain technology. The new solution comes after a culmination of years of a joint effort between PwC Australia, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) and the Port of Brisbane.

The ‘Trade Community System’ has been launched as a proof-of-concept app today that will improve the international trade efficiency by linking the supply chain information over a blockchain.

The blockchain platform, on the other hand, will look to improve productivity while reducing the costs and complexity of international trade by reducing the duplication and human errors through digitization. All of the recorded information will be shared on a continually reconciled decentralized ledger – rather than being in binders at individual companies involved in the supply chain.

The platform was designed to address a number of recommendations and concerns coming from Australia’s national freight and supply chain priorities released earlier this month. According to the PwC partner Ben Lannan:

“The Trade Community System proof of concept is the first stage in building an innovative end-to-end supply chain that will digitise the flow of trading information, improve connectivity for supply chain participants, reduce friction for business and reduce supply chain costs, providing unprecedented productivity gains for Australia’s international businesses.”

Currently, Australia sees more than 9 million container movements across the five major ports each year. The number will probably rise up to 15 million container movements by 2025. The international affairs director Bryan Clark called for a sweeping digital reform and modernization agenda for the current trade industry in Australia.