Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/925196
January 2018 | Overdrive | 23 companies such as C.H. Robinson to startups like Convoy and Uber Freight. What's new is a coordinated effort around what's often called "distributed ledger" database technology, which is at the heart of blockchain. That effort coalesced in the Blockchain in Transport Alliance, a tech-standards- development organization. It's an effort that former Truckload Carriers Association President and current BiTA President Chris Burruss describes as inverting the old "build it and they will come" adage. Once the idea took root, he says, "everybody showed up, and we had to build it." In late November, after being founded two months earlier by Craig Fuller (part of the Fuller family associated with U.S. Xpress), BiTA already had 530-plus member applications to sort through. Who's part of the alliance? Transportation management software (TMS) system providers, shippers, car- riers, rail intermodal service providers, factoring companies, brokers, telematics and mobile communications providers, electronic logging device makers – you name it. Owner-operators might have minimal representation in BiTA, but many, espe- cially independents, soon could feel – if they haven't already – the integration of blockchain practices. Here are some changes owner-operators, particularly independents, might notice. Less reliance on building relationships, more trust in verified data Blockchains have been called "trustless," which isn't intended to be as negative as it sounds. Rather, the term refers to the trust created by the structure of informa- tion contained in a blockchain, which could virtually eliminate the necessity of the personal touch that traditionally has been required to build trust in business relationships, Burruss says. "If you and I enter into a contract, the reason we do that is because we don't trust each other – evidence of that is that we have attorneys to represent us," Burruss says. "In blockchain, I don't have to trust you and know who you are." Burruss sees "smart contracts," in effect "contracts that are written into code," as the future. They could be between a ship- per and a carrier, or a carrier and a 3PL or tech-enabled broker, or a broker and a shipper. A smart contract sits on a system that "doesn't have to interpret the validities of the contract – it self-executes," Burruss says. "A, I was tendered a load. B, then I delivered the load. C, then payment One potential use for blockchain is to track maintenance and other data that form a truck's history. Max Heine