OEL is a non-profit organisation founded by existing company OpenPort, whose creation is intending to bring numerous stakeholders and supply chain leaders in the industry into an alliance. Together, these key figures will form the basis of a board that will make decisions collectively to improve current flaws in the logistics industry and propel the use of OpenPort’s blockchain-based solution.

The OEL Foundation has been established so that those within the supply chain industry can come together to work toward a shared objective that encourages adoption of a single solution that encompasses all parties. Because of the fragmented nature of the industry, success would not be possible otherwise.

By switching to a blockchain-based system (initially built on Ethereum) actions along the supply chain are recorded digitally as immutable entries on the blockchain. This means all records throughout a shipment's journey such as locations, handovers and exceptions along the way are all linked to an indisputable digital agreement (i.e. a smart contract). This comes with the following benefits:

Through the use of a distributed ledger, all entries form a tamper-proof log of activity across the consignments journey. – This limits room for dispute and allows immediate shipment updates to be shared across the network transparently.

This transparency reduces room for disagreement and improves efficiency. All parties are able to see alerts as they happen, allowing those affected to make decisions in real time, based on the entries provided by those on ground level.

Because of the improved trust and automation that comes with a blockchain-based system. The need for a middleman is also greatly reduced, thus saving overheads on third party contractors resulting in significant supply chain savings.

In addition to this, documents, fees and payments can be all be transferred instantly through the use of a predefined smart contract. Once all parties are satisfied, manufacturers, customer and shipping companies, all parties can be paid almost immediately. Cutting average payment speeds down from months to a small number of days.

OEL Foundation is built upon a team with a wealth of experience aware of exactly what problems plague the logistics industry. The vision of the OEL foundation is huge, their target market wide. Success will dependent on the involvement of key industry figures and implementation will require disruption of a fragmented, archaic system.