Blockchain in Logistics: Key Benefits & Real-Life Use Cases

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Key Takeaways

• As 58% of businesses lack visibility in supply chains, blockchain in logistics is becoming increasingly essential for improving operations, transparency, and cost-efficiency.

• Blockchain enables real-time, transparent tracking of goods, helping businesses improve load planning, inventory management, and dispute resolution with immutable, reliable data.

• The global logistics blockchain market is projected to grow from $2.4 billion in 2024 to $95.3 billion by 2034.

• Blockchain’s smart contracts execute predefined actions like payment release upon delivery confirmation, reducing intermediaries and increasing trust among partners.

With 58% of businesses still lacking transparency in supply chains, more and more enterprises are integrating blockchain in logistics operations.

As more companies invest human and financial resources in blockchain and understand more about how this technology can improve their business processes and financial results, blockchain will gain popularity. And over time, companies that do not implement this technology risk being left on the sidelines of the business.

This fast-evolving technology is entering the market today, empowering businesses to optimize routing, streamline production functions and ensure transparency to the entire supply chain. Thus, it has all the chances to become an essential part of future logistics.

With Acropolium’s 10-years expertise in crafting supply chain solutions, we’d like to break down how blockchain reimagines industry operations. See why companies adopt it in logistics software development with our success cases and real-world examples!

What is Blockchain in Logistics?

Blockchain in logistics is a technology that helps track and manage the movement of goods throughout the entire supply chain in a secure and transparent way. Essentially, it’s a digital ledger where every transaction or event related to a product, from manufacturing to delivery, is recorded in a secure, tamper-proof system.

Standing among the most widely adopted logistics tech trends, it allows all parties involved (like suppliers, shippers, and customers) to have a real-time, shared view of the status of supply chain management.

Now, the global logistics blockchain market is projected to reach around usd 95.3 billion by 2034, up from usd 2.4 billion in 2024. With its rising popularity, it is expected to grow at a rate of 44.5% annually from 2025 to 2034, where the U.S. leading the way in adoption.

There are three main types of blockchain:

• Public blockchain. Businesses that need transparency, security, and open access, like in cryptocurrency or supply chain tracking, usually opt for this. Accounting for 58.1% of the market’s revenue, it’s a good choice for those who want no central control and trust from being open to everyone.

• Private blockchain. Companies that prioritize control, privacy, and confidentiality, like in finance or healthcare, choose this. It’s ideal for internal use or when only specific users need access to sensitive data.

• Hybrid blockchain. Logistics providers with complex needs, such as governments or large corporations, often go for this. It combines privacy and transparency, allowing sensitive data to remain private while offering public visibility for certain activities, like transaction verification.

What Are the Benefits of Using Blockchain in Logistics?

With distributed ledgers, businesses can share data in real-time and get full visibility into every part of their supply chain, making it way easier to track shipments and inventory. It can improve efficiency, transparency, and collaboration, streamlining operations and cutting costs.

Here’s why blockchain is important in logistics.

Improved Efficiency

Accurate, immutable blockchain data improves shipping and freight forwarding in international and local shipping processes. It also helps manufacturers and transportation management companies to automate customs clearance and reduce paperwork, thus improving the efficiency of their production processes.

Using live data insights, blockchain provides bеttеr suррly сhаin visibility, which in turn ensures lоgistiсs trаnsраrency.

End-to-End Visibility

Blосkchаin tесhnоlogy can also help with the problem of inventory tracking and load planning. The technology offers the ability to manage their products both at the macro and micro level.

In addition, disputes can be resolved much fаstеr with immutаblе dаtа аnd rеаl-timе shipment monitoring. Thanks to automation, mаnу disрutеs with customers саn be resolved in minutes with just reliable dаtа.

Smart Contracts

Another crucial feature of blockchain in logistics in the use of smart contracts. These self-executing contracts automatically trigger actions based on predefined conditions, such as the release of payments when a delivery is confirmed.

Smart contracts eliminate the need for intermediaries, speeding up transactions and reducing human error. They also increase trust among supply chain partners, as all parties are assured that the terms will be executed exactly as agreed upon.

Trust Across Partners

Using blockchain for transportation, you can avoid misunderstandings with partners since all participants in the supply chain have access to the same version of all shipping documents.

Furthermore, the entire exchange of data is recorded in blocks, so it is impossible to delete or change this information.

Fraud Prevention

Due to its immutable nature, blockchain ensures that once data is recorded, it cannot be altered or tampered with. This greatly reduces the risk of fraudulent activities, such as falsifying load information or manipulating delivery times.

By providing a clear, transparent history of every transaction and movement in the supply chain, businesses can quickly identify and resolve any discrepancies, significantly reducing the potential for fraud.

Blockchain in Logistics: Modern Use Cases & Applications

Blockchain can be implemented in logistics in several ways. Let’s consider five major ones and look at its benefits for the industry.

Supply Chain Transparency & Traceability

The low level of reliability of verifiable information is a big problem in supply chains, which is a direct consequence of the lack of transparency in the industry. If the shipper can’t control the delivery process, legal-but-frowned-upon schemes flourish on the market, as well as smuggling and counterfeit.

For example, hidden costs in transportation, like smuggling or counterfeiting, result in companies overpaying for delivery and services.

Since all data is stored in the blockchain, each participant in the supply chain can check the information for each ship, container, and cargo in real-time. Thus, 84% of companies operate with software that autonomously gathers freight updates.

Warehouse Management and Inventory Control

International logistics, which accounts for a major part of world trade, uses all modes of transport: rail, road, air, and sea. Moreover, each participant in the supply chain uses its local accounting system. It can be a CRM, BPM, EDM, ERP, and warehousing tools.

Communication between these systems is partly carried out manually, which entails paper documents: couriers, mail, personal meetings, etc. This traditional method results in lost or misused cargo, time-consuming processes, and inaccurate accounting.

Many companies now adopt the technology’s tamper-proof backend modules to verify digital documents in the cloud through APIs, which will allow supply chain participants to synchronize and track the location of vehicles, cargo, and warehouses in real-time.

Fleet Management and Maintenance Logs

Each batch of goods or an individual product (in case it is something large, exclusive, or expensive) is equipped with an RFID tag. That means logistics actors can constantly monitor the location of their shipments and interactions between participants, improving overall fleet management.

In addition, RFID sensors can also measure speed, temperature, humidity, and other empirical metrics like vehicle wear-and-tear. Thus, it is possible to detect the violation of the transportation conditions, identify food spoilage, and track asset maintenance levels while collecting repairing history.

In addition, if a product is infected, then a blockchain-based system can identify the source of infection in a matter of seconds and track all infected consignments of goods. This is especially important for temperature-sensitive cargo and healthcare orders.

Smart Contracts for Automation

A typical delivery scenario may involve up to 30 parties: shippers and consignees, third-party logistics (3PL), carriers, government agencies, banks, insurers, and others.

In fact, blockchain implementation could save the logistics industry $40 billion a year. This will be possible thanks to smart contracts that automate most of the workflow and business processes. In addition, the distributed ledger will reduce errors, shorten delivery times and allow fraud detection.

Payments and Settlements

By the way, some platforms can work for both fiat money and cryptocurrency. The latter option seems even better to some companies. That’s why cryptocurrency payment processing can be a good addition to a blockchain decision in the future.

Blockchain enables instant and secure cross-border payments, cutting out intermediaries like banks, which reduces transaction fees and currency exchange issues.

One of the many benefits of blockchain in logistics is that it supports escrow-based models, ensuring safer payments by releasing funds only when conditions are met. This way, it provides both parties with confidence and security.

Loss, Theft, and Fraud Prevention

The logistics landscape is opaque, which quite often leads to unpredictable changes in the cost of freight, despite the absence of significant changes in supply and demand.

Blockchain technology and smart contracts can empower a fair trading platform where companies can hire freight carriers in the shortest possible time on clear and transparent terms finance-wise.

At the same time, since all the terms of contracts will be pre-written in smart contracts, the risk of invoice fraud or duplicate entries lowers due to their tamper-proof nature.

Real-World Implementations of Blockchain in Logistics

Let’s consider the most promising blockchain applications in the supply management industry. It will give us a better understanding of why companies choose blockchain for logistics in 2025.

VeChain: AI & Blockchain Transparency

VeChain aims at improving logistics using blockchain technologies with the power of AI. The system uses open-source smart contracts easily integrated into almost all existing blockchain-based logistics solutions. These contracts are created to support logistics operations and aim to create a decentralized freight market, track errors, and prevent theft.

Mediledger: Live & Dynamic Pricing

Mediledger also opted for combining blockchain in logistics with AI and IoT devices. The tool ensures automated tracking and swiftly confirms financial transactions when dealing with shipping. Moreover, they combined IoT devices’ capacities with blockchain, thus getting richer data about environmental conditions and transfer-of-custody procedures.

Siemens: IoT & Blockchain

Siemens gives users the ability to manage all the necessary workflow in digital format. Users also can integrate with the Internet of Things (IoT) and GPS-tracking modules to keep in place various physical metrics such as cargo weight or container temperature.

IBM Food Trust: Cloud-based Solution

The IBM Food Trust brings together major food manufacturers and distributors such as DHL, Drisсоll’s, Gоldеn Stаte Fооds, Krоgеr, Nеstlé, Tуsоn Fооds, Unilever, Wаlmаrt, etc.

The system is a cloud-based solution that uses the IBM Blockchain. The enterprise-oriented service stores data from lots of leading companies globally.IBM notes that blockchain technology within this platform significantly optimizes costs.

Yojee: Logistics Visibility

Yojee offers a SaaS-based platform for logistics visibility, helping businesses optimize supply chain operations. By using blockchain, it enables real-time tracking of shipments, freight, and inventory, ensuring transparency with an immutable ledger.

Its automated reporting and real-time alerts reduce delays, improve efficiency, and enhance data integrity, minimizing risks of fraud and inaccuracies.

Challenges of Implementing Blockchain in Logistics

Before implementing blосkchain, соmpanies nееd to оvеrсоme mаnу сhаllеnges, some of which are:

• Different uses of the dаtа stоrаgе mоdel: not all соmраnies or systems use the sаmе data model to соllaborate on the blосkchain

• Integration of the blосkchаin intо the еxisting IT есоsystem: it will be difficult to intеgrаtе the blоckсhаin intо ехisting internal software algorithms.

• Development of blockchain technology: while blockchain is a mature technology as of 2025, immediate implementation may result in unforeseen issues.

• Infоrmаtiоn flоw: mаnаging thе flоw of informаtiоn bеtweеn differеnt organizations in logistics is another major challenge. If trade is international, it becomes more difficult because more actors are involved in the process

• Sharing: Most companies wouldn’t like to share inside information with third parties. Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs) and private-permissioned blockchains help address this by ensuring that sensitive data can be shared without revealing private details. They can just alter the information the way they like since nobody would be able to verify that, which violates the bases and essence of the blockchain.

• Compliance requirements: companies must ensure that blockchain solutions comply with various regulations, such as ISO standards or FDA traceability requirements for the food and pharmaceutical sectors. Implementing blockchain with these frameworks in mind ensures better traceability and accountability within the supply chain, making compliance much more streamlined.

Acropolium’s Experience in Blockchain and Logistics

Recognized as a leading blockchain developer by TechBehemoths and Clutch, Acropolium has vast experience in crafting unique, secure, and compliant solutions for the logistics sector. Our developers always come up with top-notch solutions and get right with every client to find the best option, which is reflected in our case studies.

Blockchain-based Shipping Web Platform

Our client had a goal to fix the shipping web platform and enable new third-party services integration while decreasing the server load.

Solution

The Acropolium team highlighted the major goals:

• Provide a complete solution audit

• Reduce the server load

• Cut down the costs on maintenance and support

The solution was straightforward and elegant: first of all, the team started with an explicit technical audit and optimized the architecture using blockchain technology.

Results

• A 37% monthly profit increase

• A 46% cost reduction

• A 600% reduction in monthly expenses

Blockchain-based Supply Chain Platform

An oil and gas company wanted to improve supply chain traceability, combat fraud, and streamline operations by tracking products from extraction to distribution using blockchain technology.

Solution

We implemented a decentralized blockchain ledger to ensure secure, transparent transactions. Smart contracts automated business processes, while IoT integration provided real-time data on product movement and conditions.

Results

• Enhanced traceability from extraction to delivery.

• Reduced errors and costs through automation and IoT.

• Prevented fraud and counterfeiting.

• Simplified regulatory compliance and audits.

Final Thoughts

Lоgistiсs is оnе оf thе biggеst сhallenges fоr thе current gеnеratiоn of companies and startups whеn it соmеs to the blосkchаin imрlеmentation stage. The logistics industry is looking for new technologies to improve existing processes, reduce costs and increase suррly сhаin trаnsраrenсу.

And blосkchаin in logistics оffеrs a solution to most of the current issues. If you need a seasoned team to help you integrate blockchain technologies into your business or transportation app development project, Acropolium has got you covered.

Our team is ready to develop a custom solution tailored to your company’s needs, be it energy, transportation, hospitality or e-commerce sector.

Sources of Information:

• Blockchain in Supply Chain Market — Market US

• Supply Chain Visibility Report — Beacon.com