UK-Based Maritime Society Creates Model of Blockchain-Based Ship Register

Lloyd's Register (LR), a British tech and business maritime classification society, has created a model of a blockchain-powered class register of ships, according to an official press release published September 4.

LR’s new class register is reportedly “the first demonstrator that can register ships into Class” by deploying blockchain technology. Originally, LR published the first “Register of Ships” in 1764 in order to provide both underwriters and merchants with information about the condition and quality of vessels they insured and chartered.

In order to transform the system that was introduced in the eighteenth century, LR has partnered with London-based blockchain firm Applied Blockchain. By applying the new “Class register,” the company intends to boost the classification and registration of new ships, as well as launch a prototype blockchain-based register service.

The prototype register is currently demonstrated at the leading international maritime trade fair SMM taking place in Hamburg, Germany from September 4-7.

LR Marine & Offshore Director Nick Brown commented that the company has successfully tested blockchain technology for ship registration, finding that the blockchain-enabled register provides “immutability and auditability,” which in turn enables “enhanced trust” between merchants and underwriters, as well as facilitating the data sharing to be available “up-to-the-minute.”

Brown added that the firm is now developing methods of promoting the value of the recent project “to other stakeholders in the maritime supply chain.”

Blockchain technology has been implemented by various transport spheres around the world. On August 20, China’s largest electric bus operator, the National Transportation Capacity Co Ltd (NTS), partnered with U.S. technology firm Seven Stars Cloud Group (SSC) in order to replace all traditional buses with electric vehicles as soon as 2021 using blockchain technology.

Earlier in July, South Korea’s major logistics and shipping firm Lotte Global Logistics joined the Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA), which develops and promotes blockchain applications in the transport and logistics industry.