Port of Marseille – The MeRS project

The ‘Délégation Interministérielle au développement de l’axe portuaire et logistique Méditerranée-Rhône-Saône’ has entrusted a group of national and regional stakeholders with carrying out a first land-sea logistics experiment. Promoted by the ‘Banque des Territoires, the ‘Voies Navigables’, the ‘Compagnie Nationale du Rhône’ and the ‘Grand Port Maritime de Marseille’, the MeRS (Méditerranée Rhône-Saône) project uses Blockchain technology to streamline multimodal transport from Marseille-Fos to the hinterland. Ultimately, it is considered as a vector of balance between the ports of Antwerp and Marseille.

Blockchain technology consists of a secure sharing of the recording and tracking of transactions and goods thanks to a logic of general data sharing in real time. Without the intervention of intermediaries or centralized manager, each user can feed and/or consult this chain of information without being able to modify the content. Through the continuous inventory of exchanges carried out, the Blockchain offers a permanent overview of the logistics process. This results in increased anticipation capacity and, consequently, more fluidity in the management of transport.

On the operational side, the MeRS project is developed by three digital companies, specialists in transaction and merchandise tracking; the MGI software developer (Marseille Gyptis International), the BuyCo import / export interface developer and the specialist in secure digital documents KeeeX. The horizontal collaboration of these three companies culminated in June on a “proof of concept”, a first secure data channel accessible to all professionals of the Mediterranean-Rhône-Saône axis concerned.