To date, the accompanying papers, bills of lading and customs documents from transport and logistics companies have been transferred via mail, email, cload or freight exchanges. These forms lack protection against forgery and often are prone to errors due to the multiple softwares used. The HANSEBLOC project aims to develop sustainable solutions to this problem with the help of blockchain technologies.

HAW Hamburg has developed the 'sensorchain' concept, which allows for the secure storage and transmission of data from sensors via bluetooth in a self-building blockchain. The manipulation of sensors – for example, to avoid the costly cooling of products – is hampered significantly. The sensorchain serves as a secure and reliable data source for each blockchain and has proven to have many applications.

The HANSEBLOC platform will build the foundation for logistics companies, as it documents the transport of goods in an identitiy-protected manner. For other service providers it will be possible to develop applications for the HANSEBLOC platform in order to expand its functionalities. For example, transports can be insured automatically and easily via the platform with the help of insurance providers.

You can find more information on the official HANSEBLOC website.

The HANSEBLOC platform is intended to digitalise the European waybill (CMR). Based on an Ethereum blockchain, freight traffic is mapped using smart contracts. The platform therefore documents all transfers of risk. In addition to this primary function, various services should complement the platform. In 2020, HAW Hamburg helped expand this system architecture with the help of microservices. Our 'sensorchain' is the first functional service in HANSEBLOC. 

The sensor chain is a network of several sensors that feed the blockchain and the user interface with sensor data via an interface. The load can thus be monitored, and breaches of contract are detected and documented on a separate smart contract. A violation of the contract could, for example, be exceeding the temperature limit for cargo that needs cooling. The design of the sensor chain makes it a trustworthy Smart Oracle (data source of a blockchain). The sensors are placed in standard euro pallets to retrieve 'smart load carriers'.

For this purpose, our project team designed hardware that meets the special requirements in terms of size and energy. In addition, a gateway was developed that regulates the communication between the sensor chain and the HANSEBLOC network. Tracking the GPS coordinates of the load is also possible. Also, the user interface of the HANSEBLOC platform has been expanded for the sensor chain. Transports that use our sensors can now be tracked by the respective company on the map and sensor values ​​stored on the blockchain can be called up at any time.