An Australian logistics insurance company is to partner with blockchain platform BeefLedger on a pilot to test supply chain tracking for beef exports to Shanghai.
National Transport Insurance (NTI) has over 45 years of experience and is Australia’s biggest truck insurer. It established the internationally recognized National Truck Accident Research Centre (NTARC) which provides critical data and insight into serious heavy vehicle crashed via the Major Accident Investigation Report.
With BeefLedger, the aim is to improve food safety, export security and animal welfare in Australia via a DLT platform which will monitor and track supply chain performance. As an insurance company, NTI has acknowledged the advantages of mitigating supply chain risks and eliminating risky insurance commitments.
The final destination for the Australian beef is Shanghai, China where the meat will arrive frozen after being sent from a plant in Casino, New South Wales after receipt of cattle direct from South Australia. NTI CEO Tony Clark commented on the pilot:
“We’re excited by the prospects this presents across several streams of Australian industry: agriculture, animal welfare, transport, and logistics. While it’s early stages, we’re optimistic of the outcomes and learning, and what it potentially means for Australian suppliers, exporters, and consumers.”
Australia is currently the world’s largest beef exporter behind India and Brazil and as such, a major blockchain trial such as this could have major implications for both logistics and insurance with regard to supply chain management in the future, particularly in the way that new technologies are added on. Australia currently has 45,000 active cattle producers around the country.
BeefLedger chairman Warwick Powell stated the China effect, just has it has done in the exploration and mining of Australian minerals, is equally responsible for the spike in demand for beef products by the Chinese public as the economy increases in value. He claims that the Chinese have been increasingly cautious about maintaining ethical practices regarding the transportation of livestock:
“Research shows us that ethical standards and concerns for animal welfare, along with authenticity and proof of product origin, are amongst the top priorities for Chinese consumers. It’s also what’s driving consumer interest in Australian produce.”
Food fraud has been an issue in China including rice, also resulting in a collaborative merger this time between the Wuchang municipal government in the northeastern Heilongjiang province of China with Ant Financial and Alipay, using blockchain to monitor products after fraudulent rice sales activity in the region.
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