Blockchain in Air Cargo - Beyond the Buzzword

Blockchain is making serious waves in the air cargo industry as the ultimate trust-building tool in a world that thrives on speed, precision, and global coordination.

- .CHANDRAKANTH

Between 2017-2021, blockchain was positioned as the game-changer for the air cargo sector, offering digital airway bills, tamper-proof documentation and efficient records. But slow adoption by the sector, coupled with the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence and robotics, has pushed blockchain to a supportive domain.

When it began, several projects took off in India. The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad introduced the Vaccine Ledger.

At Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport, Kale Logistics Solutions developed blockchain-based Airport Cargo Community Systems (ACCS) that allowed airlines, freight forwarders, customs, and ground handlers to share records seamlessly and eliminate paperwork. Apollo LogiSolutions, in partnership with IndiGo Cargo and StaTwig, deployed blockchain during the pandemic for vaccine distribution, providing visibility across the supply chain, ensuring cold chain compliance, and minimising the risk of counterfeit medicines.

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The technology showed promise, but then artificial intelligence (AI) took over. AI now dominates the sector.

The primary reason for the slow adoption of blockchain has been the structure of the air cargo industry, per se, where multiple stakeholders are in the supply chain. Aligning these stakeholders, such as airlines, freight forwarders, ground handlers, customs, transport providers, etc, onto one blockchain network has not only proved complex but also challenging. With interoperability issues, too many pilots were siloed, without standardisation, and that limitation remains. Above all, the costs of deploying blockchain infrastructure have been high, and each of the cargo operators weighed return on investment before making any commitment. As a result, blockchain has remained a supporting tool in cold chain, customs integrity, document verification, etc.