(Hong Kong / Basel – July 24, 2018) – CargoX, the producer of electronic blockchain-based Smart Bill of Lading solution, has signed a partnership agreement with Fracht AG, the independent, Swiss, family-owned company with over 100 offices and more than 1200 employees. This move gives Fracht AG the means to use the CargoX Smart B/L with its business customers.
Fracht AG has been a family-owned Swiss freight forwarder since 1955, and they are the market specialists for turn-key transport projects. Their goal is to deliver innovative, tailor-made logistics solutions that give their customers quantifiable added value. The company achieves this through its dedicated personnel, long-standing experience, and the cutting edge in information technology. Furthermore, the company’s relationships with customers, subcontractors, and employees are guided by an attitude of partnership. Fracht AG is well known as extremely environmentally friendly, it puts great emphasis on safety, and it sees information technology as a market differentiator.
It is Fracht’s understanding that an increasing number of enterprises are accepting that efficient logistics directly produces a decisive competitive advantage. The requirement for effective logistics strategies is being driven by globalization, the fragmentation of markets, and the need for IT systems that effectively support logistics processes. The successful implementation of logistics systems that generate genuine added value often requires the direct involvement of professional logistics experts.
In the years since it was founded in 1955, FRACHT Ltd. has demonstrated its competence in countless major international projects, long before the term ’logistics’ had gained the broad currency that it enjoys today. As with major projects, it is crucial to consider logistics solutions in context.
“As service providers we must be able to ’step into our customer’s shoes’ and impartially choose the best available options. We have made various tests on the use of blockchain in shipping and forwarding and the Bill of Lading is exceptionally suited, being a document of value that exchanges hands and needs to be secure.
We always had the opinion that there would be a revolution in the digitalization of shipping, in communication and documentation, and therefore we thoroughly studied all the different aspects of digital online development. Then along came blockchain technology and we began studying the potential uses, apart from Bitcoin, which can be looked at critically, whether it really makes sense or whether it will just be a footnote in history. But look at the internet bubble two decades ago. It busted, but the internet still is ‘the thing’. Similar stories can happen with Bitcoin and blockchain. Blockchain is ‘the thing’, but in our opinion also only for some uses and not for everything in the world. It is very good for trade and one of the very best uses, if not the best, is the use for the Bill of Lading.
We are by far not the only ones that have come to the same conclusion. Others are bigger and they therefore lack the speed and flexibility. This is why start-ups and smaller companies have success in the world. And while we are older and a little bit bigger, our philosophy and mentality have remained all these years just like a start-up’s and this makes us successful. And now we teamed up with, in our opinion, the best start-up, the one that will bring in blockchain in shipping and in the Bill of Lading – it is called CargoX,” emphasized Ruedi Reisdorf, CEO and 2nd generation owner of the company.
The innovative CargoX Smart B/L platform lets companies issue and handle original bills of lading on the Ethereum blockchain network, facilitating the digital transfer of the ownership of the bill of lading and thus the related assets from issuer, to shipper, to consignee, to release agent. This creates the first fully digital, paperless, and secure original bill of lading solution on earth.
With the introduction of the CargoX Smart B/L Fracht AG will harvest the benefits of a modern blockchain-based solution: ultimate reliability, safety and much higher speed of transfer of documents between process partakers, as opposed with the current, paper-based transfer.
The Bills of Lading will be created and transferred in a matter of minutes and for a mere fraction of the current cost.
All document archives will be readily available in the encrypted cloud storage. This approach will enable the logistics companies to reduce the amount of paper used, save time and money.
The CargoX Smart B/L solution has already been thoroughly tested by CargoX’s partners, and it is production ready.
“Fracht is one of the companies we look up to, as they prove that change is the only constant in business. They are always looking at how to adapt to business, where to find new opportunities, and how to always keep in mind the global common good. It is very similar to the idea how we designed our solution – by looking at the whole picture and anticipating what the future will bring! Not just profits, but optimal workflows, new technologies, and a multitude of benefits, from speedier and safer document ownership transfer, to optimised financial flow. CargoX is proud to have Fracht AG as partner!” said Stefan Kukman, CEO and founder of CargoX.