Abu Dhabi Ports’ subsidiary Maqta Gateway announced that it would develop its own blockchain platform called Silsal. When the project succeeds, it will become the first entity in the UAE’s capital region to leverage distributed ledger technology (DLT).
The company plans to integrate blockchain with digital user IDs to ensure a smooth and reliable connection between the trade community’s members.
Silsal aims to bring exporters and importers closer to each other in terms of trade processing. Also, the platform will offer easy access to transaction status info, cut paperwork and reduce the need for physical meetings and calls, and also will speed up data sharing.
In the first phase, Silsal will be provided to freight forwarders and their clients, after which the services will be offered to other trade community members, who will be able to use it along with the existing system called mPCS, which is Maqta’s Port Community System.
Abu Dhabi Ports CEO Captain Mohamed Juma Al Shamsi commented on the initiative:
“At Abu Dhabi Ports we strive to invest in cutting-edge technological innovations that not only bring immense benefits to the trade community, but also play a role in the transformation of the UAE to a knowledge-based, competitive economy.”
“This achievement will help to further augment Abu Dhabi’s position as a centre for innovation in logistics and trade,” he added.
Maqta Gateway CEO Noura Al Dhaheri elaborated:
“Through Silsal, we will be offering the trade community secure and integrated access to blockchain technology, with the added value of cost and time savings through real-time track and trace, reduction in paperwork and ease in extracting vital information to receive live updates.”
Blockchain has already been successfully applied in the shipping and freight industries by large companies, including Danish giant A.P. Moller-Maersk. The latter partnered with IBM (NYSE:IBM) to build a DLT platform that would support trade processing and save billions of US dollars. Last week, the two companies announced that they would soon launch two blockchain apps as part of the initiative. Also, Maersk started to use EY’s blockchain platform called Insurwave.
“Not only have we introduced our own blockchain offering, but we have also invented our own form of digital identity. This will eliminate the need for access through passwords, which can often be a security risk,” he added.
Maqta Gateway will be one of the first blockchain users in Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Last week, Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) partnered with blockchain-oriented startup Equichain to test the technology for various use cases.
Elsewhere, the government of Dubai, the largest city in the UAE, is probably the most active one in implementing blockchain. It plans to become the world’s first blockchain-powered government in the world.
This article appeared first on Cryptovest
