UAE’s leading mass-market food manufacturer gets a taste of blockchain in their supply chain.
The customer
International Foodstuffs Co (IFFCO) is an international company based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). They manufacture and market a well-integrated range of mass-market food products and ingredients, for end-consumers as well as other food businesses under their belt, with 12,000 employees located across 33 countries. IFFCO’s leading products include Noor Sunflower Oil and Igloo Ice Cream, both of which are household names in the Middle East.
More than 50% of the company’s sales are generated outside the Middle East. As a result, IFFCO runs a massive and complex supply chain. They work closely with various overseas partners to ensure their goods are readily available in markets around the globe.
The challenge
As IFFCO was looking to expand their operations internationally, they needed a solution that could help take their supply chain to the next level. The first issue their supply chain faced was the lack of visibility on their shipments. Without updated data, IFFCO had to scramble last-minute transportation to pick up their cargo at a port. This resulted in unnecessary costs and effort to settle the logistics.
Secondly, with the unforeseen delays, IFFCO found it challenging to reroute shipments to locations where demand for their product was urgent. This is especially important since IFFCO sources and processes palm oil, a key ingredient that their customers require to produce packaged foods.
Lastly, IFFCO ships a whopping 40,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) annually. At this scale, their shipments needed a lot of documentation and paperwork to ensure they were handled correctly. IFFCO also worked with multiple carriers, leading to several databases and an unnecessary overlap of data.
The solution
The Maersk team recommended a solution using the TradeLens platform to deliver better visibility with the power of blockchain technology. Using TradeLens, IFFCO and their partners were able to share and receive real-time data on shipments, making it easier to plan schedules and shipments.
The TradeLens platform also provided a framework for sharing trade documents among selected parties while equipping shippers with security and control. Authorised parties could easily upload, download, edit, and view documents with the given permissions assigned to them. Any changes made to the documents were flagged, along with other shipment events, to simplify compliance management.
The result
With this level of transparency, IFFCO now had the power to take decisive actions like rebooking and rerouting shipment of palm oil on another vessel to meet a sudden spike in demand in a different market. They were able to easily execute their tasks with just a few clicks on the platform, and relevant parties were notified instantly.
Earlier, IFFCO’s logistics updates would require a significant amount of paperwork and strategic communication to get all their parties aligned. With TradeLens, these documents and a lot of manual processes were digitised – saving the company vital time and money. With IFFCO onboard the world’s most expansive blockchain supply chain network, their logistics is now simplified, transparent and secured, all the way.
With the numerous parties we work with daily, we require active collaboration and communication to keep our goods moving. TradeLens helps smoothen the entire process into a seamless, secure and integrated channel. Sharing crucial documents is now faster, which accelerates our supply chain more efficiently.
The future of supply chain is here
Our TradeLens ecosystem has been growing, with more organisations and supply chain partners joining the network. Many financial institutions and banks such as Standard Chartered have joined the platform, which will automate manual verification processes and streamline financial processing and settlement.
To learn how your supply chain can harness the power of blockchain technology, contact your Maersk sales representative or reach out to us directly at TradeLens.APA.GTM@maersk.com.
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