Logistics Connectivity in the Digital Age

April 25, 2019, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Auditori of the Consorci de la Zona Franca, Barcelona

Actors from the logistics chain come together to talk about the advantages and challenges of digital information exchange. Take part in the debate!

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Connected world, Connected logistics

Last Thursday, April 25, the transport and logistics sector gathered at l'Auditori del Consorci de la Zona Franca in Barcelona to delve into the importance of connectivity: the agile and secure digital exchange of information between the different players in the logistics ecosystem. Santiago Bassols, Director of BCL was in charge of opening the event, which was attended by more than one hundred people and Innovation and Technology of BCL, will be in charge of opening the event.

The event, in pictures

Conferences & Speakers

The event featured key players in the transport and logistics sector. Technological representatives, infrastructure, logistics operators and expeditors participated in various conversation spaces on the advantages of connectivity in the sector and the challenges to which it is exposed to achieve an exchange of information agile and confident.

See Full Agenda

Key Note Speaker - Blockchain

Ignasi Sayol

As an expert in digital transformation, Ignasi Sayol reviewed the main technologies and applications that have broken into the industrial and logistics field and which are encompassed in what is called Logistics 4.0. 3D printing, mobile apps, cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT), big data, artificial intelligence or blockchain, are technologies that are in different development and application phases.

Regarding the blockchain, Sayol said it is a "reliable network because the information cannot be altered". It is also based on smart contracts or smart contracts between individuals or companies that are met and executed "without intermediaries". These capabilities make the blockchain "can have very deep uses in the logistics industry" because it provides "data transparency and these are not modifiable and cannot be hidden". It is also secure because it cannot bealtered and allows the management of digitized assets (tokens).

Blockchain will have an impact on the logistics sector because it will allow "the exchange of data through the supply chain and with it higher levels of transparency", as well as efficient process management and the elimination of inefficiencies," he said Sayol. And he gave a number of examples of aspects of the logistics chain that the blockchain can solve, such as: receivables, paper transactions, cold chain breakage or inefficiency to meet demand.

Success story - Air Freight Solution

Frederic Farreras, APR and Santos Martínz, Portel

The day also served to present a success story. With Santos Martínez, of Portel, and Frederic Farreras, of Pujo Rubio Customs, Air Freight Solutionwas analyzed in depth, a platform that arises "from the need found in the air cargo sector to dematerialize documentary processes associated with it," as Santos Martínez defined.

Air Freight Solution is a "neutral and competitive" community system charge that accommodates the various actors in the logistics chain, whether private or public agents, such as Customs, and that streamlines all processes associated with air cargo.

Santos Martínez explained that the platform allows the exchange of documents such as air knowledge, transport orders, notices of arrival of the goods and that unlike other platforms "includes the ground carrier for its processes they also benefit from automation, customs is given visibility and integrates all airports nationwide."

In short, Air Freight Solution is a "one-stop shop for air cargo" to which other elements demanded by the community will be implemented, such as the paperless Levant and import functionality that will allow the freightforward know when the goods have arrived at the handling operator.

Frederic Farreras noted that the Air Freight Solution platform makes it easier for Customs Pujol Rubió to "have real-time information on all goods and in what state their shipment or receipt is". He also noted that the solution allows freight forwarders to "view the status of their operations and view and download the documents of the operations".

Welcome

Santiago Bassols

The Director General of BCL, Santiago Bassols, pointed out in reference to the digitization of the sector as a key to competitiveness that "logistics chains are increasingly complex and multi-agent are involved" and that they are producing " changes in the modes of consumption, production and transport." In this changing environment, "how to manage the information flows that accompany the merchandise and how we exchange that information between the different actors is going to be crucial to making logistics chains more efficient and transparent."

According to the director of BCL, technology and innovation are essential to achieve "disruptive improvements" and therefore "we have to bet on an innovation model both at the sector level and at the particular level of companies". In this regard, the BCL Innovation and Technology Commission is launching a number of initiatives, such as conducting workshops and conferences, and will also create an ecosystem of startups related to logistics or specialized activities in technologies that may have application in the logistics chain. The aim is to "introduce innovative and disruptive entrepreneurs to the sector, as well as foster their relationship with the logistics sector".

Key Note Speaker - TradeLens Blockchain Platform

Santiago Bollain, IBM

Santiago Bollaín, chief sales officer for IBM's small and medium-sized enterprise, explained in detail the development of Tradelens, the private blockchain initiative launched by Maersk and IBM in the form of a joint venture in January 2018.

Tradelens "simplifies all transactions and communications between the various actors involved in a logistics chain and groups them together in a single way to connect to access it", being the main advantage that "any related information with a logistics chain is accessible and in real time."

According to Bollaín, Tradelens only works for container traffic, although "it is the will of the platform to grow with new functionalities and with other types of merchandise traffic, such as vehicles". Some 60 ports currently participate on this platform, including Algeciras, Bilbao, Barcelona and Valencia, as well as various shipping companies, such as Maersk, Hamburg Sud, ZIM, and Spain's Boluda. There are also customs, but at the moment none Spanish, and stand out for example Dutch ones because through Tradelens "they can decide more quickly which containers they have to inspect, depending on their origin or content".

Tradelens benefits include reduced container localization time, real-time information, improved inventory control, improved transparency of information across the chain by integrating all source information to protection of brand and product value, or the reduction of fraud.

Technological Vision - Management Platforms

Rodrigo Guichón, bytemaster

Manager bytemaster , to point out that a supply chain involves "many actors exchanging a large volume of information, which must be absorbed" which is why "it is vital to have connectivity because without it we would have a duplication of information".

The existence of so many actors and so different in a chain, means that "the integration of information is necessary to make the logistics operator more agile" and can meet a parameters of profitability "using the minimum resources to go further and take on new challenges." And the best way to achieve that profitability is to "have a connected solution" that, among other things, will allow communication and documentary exchange with customs, ports and airports, quotation platforms and chain agents.

In this sense, Guichón spoke of the present and the future of connectivity, stressing that to implement it with guarantees "it is necessary to standardize files, documents, processes and procedures". And new technologies "should help achieve that standardization for better and greater connectivity."

Regarding new technologies, he referred to The Apps, which allow to "trace and follow any kind of information in real time" and are therefore a good tool for connectivity because they allow to give and receive information". And as for blockchain, he said that "we must do whatever it takes to make it come into use and become a unique information environment." And, therefore, in bytemaster "we are investigating the profits of the blockchain".

Round Table

Challenges of connectivity between the different players in the logistics chain

The last part of the day was starring a round table in which they participated: Israel García, of Alfil Logistics; Alberto Monforte, orange, Paco Fernández, mango; Santos Martínez, from Portel; and Rodrigo Guichón, of bytemaster .

They started by analyzing what are the critical points in the logistics chain, especially in the relationship between the operator and the charger and Paco Fernández, of Mango, pointed out that if the immediate future is collaborative logistics "there will have to be more transparency and more cooperation between all the actors in the chain to be able to make a 4.0 logistics and meet the needs of customers".

On this point, Israel Garcia, of Alfil Logistics, stated that "it is not easy to have an integration with all suppliers, because there are many and each has its peculiarities".

Santos Martínez de Portel also intervened in this regard to defend the role of freight forwarders because "to agree and to dump reliable and real-time information is not easy".

For information to flow, the key element is technology and so Alberto Monforte, from Orange, showed that a communications operator "can help the logistics chain by providing technology to have full visibility and from start to finish". He added that technologies such as 5G "opens up endless possibilities in the logistics sector because they will be able to put sensors and devices" through which "we are going to have great reliability".