Dematerialisation of Bills of Lading Using Blockchain from the Legal Perspective

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26408/121.03

Keywords:

bill of lading, blockchain, maritime law, maritime transport

Abstract

Dematerialisation of bills of lading is an important topic from the point of view of maritime transport practice. There are many arguments in favour of dematerialisation, such as simplification and acceleration of trade. Over the years, many attempts have been made to dematerialise bills of lading using EDI systems. All of them were found to be lacking. It was not until the spread of blockchain technology that adequate tools were found. The blockchain makes it possible to meet the requirement of singularity which was haunting the EDI systems. With the introduction of proper provisions of law and if the maritime transport industry could agree on a mutually compatible standard, blockchain-based bills of lading could successfully replace paper bills of lading.

References

Albrecht, Ch., 2019, Blockchain Bills of Lading: The End of History? Overcoming Paper-Based Transport Documents in Sea Carriage Through New Technologies, Tulane Maritime Journal, vol. 43, no. 2, pp. 251–288.

Beecher, S., 2006, Can the Electronic Bill of Lading Go Paperless? The International Lawyer, vol. 40, no. 4, pp. 627–647.

Bolero International Limited 1999.

Boston Consulting Group, 2007.

Brosens/ING, 2017.

Eckard, T., 2004, The Bolero Bill of Lading under German and English Law, Munchen Sellier European Law Publishers [in] Takahashi, K., 2016, Blockchain Technology and Electronic Bills of Lading, The Journal of International Maritime Law, vol. 22, pp. 202–211.

Ganne, E., 2018, Can Blockchain Revolutionize International Trade? WTO Publications, pp. 1–114.

Goldby, M., 2008, Electronic Bills of Lading and Central Registries: What Is Holding Back Progress? Information & Communications Technology Law, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 125–149. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13600830802239381

Herd, J., 2018, ‘Blocks of Lading’ Distributed Ledger Technology and the Disruption Of Sea Carriage Regulation, QUT Law Review, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 306–317. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5204/qutlr.v18i2.755

Hwaidi, M., 2018, Switching from Paper to Electronic Bills of Lading: Fundamental Sociological Structure, Distributed Ledger Technology and Legal Difficulties, 7th Annual International Conference on Law, Regulations and Public Policy – LRPP 2018, Singapore, pp. 157–171.

Kiffer, L., Levin, D., Mislove, A., 2017, Stick a Fork in It: Analyzing the Ethereum Network Partition, HotNets-XVI: Proceedings of the 16th ACM Workshop on Hot Topics in Networks, pp. 94–100. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3152434.3152449

Łopuski, J., Dragun-Getner, M., 2016, Konosamenty [in] Szumański A. (ed.), Prawo papierów wartościowych. System prawa prywatnego, t. 18, wyd. 3, C.H. Beck, Warszawa.

Maritime Code, 2001, Journal of Laws, no. 138, item 1545.

Murray, D.E., 1983, History and Development of the Bill of Lading, University of Miami Law Review, vol. 37, no. 689, pp. 689–732.

Nærland, K., Beck, R., Müller-Bloch, Ch., Palmund, S., 2017, Blockchain to Rule the Waves – Nascent Design Principles for Reducing Risk and Uncertainty in Decentralized Environments.

Niels-Philip, A., 2020, An Ethereum Bill of Lading under the UNCITRAL MLETR, Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 250–274. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1023263X20904316

Ong, E., 2018, Blockchain Bills of Lading, NUS Centre for Maritime Law Working Paper, no. 18/07, pp. 1–32. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3225520

Peronja, I., Lenac, K., Glavinović, R., 2020, Blockchain Technology in Maritime Industry, Scientific Journal of Maritime Research, vol. 34, pp. 178–184. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31217/p.34.1.19

Shope, M.L., 2021, The Bill of Lading on the Blockchain: An Analysis of its Compatibility with International Rules on Commercial Transactions, Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 163–204.

Skopec, A., 2017, PIN Chagrin: The Glencore Heist and EDI Through the Lens of Delivery Orders, Tulane Maritime Law Journal, vol. 42, no. 221, pp. 221–246.

Takahashi, K., 2016, Blockchain Technology and Electronic Bills of Lading, The Journal of International Maritime Law, vol. 22, pp. 202–211.

Wang F., 2021, Blockchain Bills of Lading and Their Future Regulation, NUS Centre for Maritime Law, Working Paper 21/01 NUS Law Working Paper 2021/008, pp. 1–39.

Zekos, G.I., 2021, Artificial Intelligence and E-bills of Lading, Journal of Internet Law, vol. 24, no. 8, pp. 3–10.

Zetsche, D.A., Buckley, R.P., Arner, D.W., 2017, The Distributed Liability of Distributed Ledgers: Legal Risks of Blockchain, University of New South Wales Law Research Series, vol. 52, pp. 1–43. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3018214

Internet sources

CargoX, Why the CargoX platform, https://cargox.io/why-cargox-platform/ (24.11.2021).

IPCSA, 2020, International Port Community Systems Association’s, Alibaba Joins IPCSA’s Ground-Breaking Blockchain Bill of Lading Initiative, FreightComms, https://www.freight­comms.net/­alibaba-joins-ipcsas-ground-breaking-blockchain-bill-of-lading-initiative/ (30.11.2021).

Justeen, D., 2021, Sea Freight Rates Have Soared 300%. Here’s Why., Ecomcrew, https://www.­ecom­crew.com/sea-freight-rates-have-soared/ (30.11.2021).

O’Dwyer, R., 2021, TradeLens Electronic Bills of Lading Approved by International Group of P&I Clubs, Smart Maritime Network, https://smartmaritimenetwork.com/2021/03/30/tradelens-electronic-bills-of-lading-approved-by-international-group-of-pi-clubs/ (30.11.2021).

OECD, Consumer Price Indices (CPIs) – Complete Database: Consumer Prices – Annual Inflation, OECD.Stat, https://stats.oecd.org/index.aspx?queryid=82174 (30.11.2021).

Peters, G.W., Panayi, E., 2015, Understanding Modern Banking Ledgers Through Blockchain Technologies: Future of Transaction Processing and Smart Contracts on the Internet of Money, https://ssrn.com/abstract=2692487 (24.11.2021). DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2692487

Tradelens, Ecosystem/Authorities, Tradelens, https://www.tradelens.com/ecosystem/authorities (22.11.2021).

Tradelens, Tradelens eBill, Tradelens, https://www.tradelens.com/products/tradelens-ebl (25.11.2021).

UNCITRAL, 2017, Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records, https://uncitral.un.­org/sites/unci­tral.un.org/files/media-documents/uncitral/en/mletr_ebook_e.pdf (30.11.2021).

United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, 2008, Status: United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea (New York, 2008) (the “Rotterdam Rules”), United Nations, https://uncitral.un.­org/en/texts/transport­goods/­conventions/rotterdam_rules/status (30.11.2021).

UNCTAD, 2003, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, The Use of Transport Documents in International Trade, https://unctad.org/system/files/official-docu­ment/­sdtetlb­20033_en.pdf (09.11.2021).

UNCTAD, 2018, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Review of Maritime Transport 2018, https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/sdtetlb20033_en.pdf (09.11.2021).

United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea, 2008, https://uncitral.un.org/sites/uncitral.un.org/files/media-documents/un­citral/en/rotter­dam-rules-e.pdf (30.11.2021).

Wave, 2020, International Group of P&I Clubs Authorizes Wave as Approved Paperless Trading Solution, Cision PR Newswire, https://www.prnewswire.com/il/news-releases/international-group-of-pi-cl. (23.11.2021).

Downloads

Published

2023-05-02

How to Cite

Ratajczak, O. (2023). Dematerialisation of Bills of Lading Using Blockchain from the Legal Perspective. Scientific Journal of Gdynia Maritime University, (121), 28–40. https://doi.org/10.26408/121.03

Issue

Section

Articles