Vale says it has completed its first sale of iron ore using blockchain technology with Nanjing Iron & Steel Group International Trade Co Ltd, a subsidiary of Nanjing Iron and Steel Co Ltd (NISCO).

The transaction, for a cargo of 176,000 t of Brazilian Blend Fines from Teluk Rubiah Maritime Terminal, in Malaysia, to China, is aligned with Vale’s strategy of becoming a more “innovative and customer-centred company” through greater integration with clients and partnering for the development of new solutions, it said.

“It is an important milestone towards the digitalisation of the sales and trade process, bringing innovation to the traditional paper-intensive trade transactions and offering a better service to the clients as well as predictability in the steel value chain,” Vale said.

The Letter of Credit was issued through the Contour blockchain platform while the shipping documents and the electronic Bill of Lading were handled via essDOCS’ CargoDocs solution – with all actions carried out through a single, interfaced platform consolidated in Contour. The transaction also had support from DBS Bank Ltd and Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Berhad.

“The integrated transaction enabled end-to-end security and transparency with real-time visibility of the documentation to all stakeholders, drastically reducing the amount of emails and paperwork exchanged among the parties and providing enhanced user experience through access to a single solution to execute the trade,” Vale said.