NACRE: Decentralized Platform for Securing Maritime Certification
What is NACRE
NACRE is a Decentralized Seafarer Certification System that MSC Shipmanagement is deploying internally for its crewing and training services.
The issuance, collection, verification, and submission of seafarer certificates is performed manually. This process is time-consuming and not always very secure since physical certificates can be forged. NACRE standardizes and automates the process but most importantly uses blockchain tech to provide shared record keeping, transparency, immutability and tamper-resistance thus guaranteeing the authenticity of the issued certificates.
The NACRE project is designed and implemented through a collaboration of MSC Limassol, Ukraine, Mumbai and Electi Consulting.
Problem Definition
& Scope
Crewing requires seafarers to be certified before being accepted onboard. These certificates attest to competences, experience and specialized training.
Certificates can be issued by internal or external training providers. Currently, the collection, verification, submission of certificates is performed manually and the process is plagued by forgeries.
Evidently, these issues incur a high cost for all stakeholders involved in the process and therefore is a prime target for standardization and process reengineering.
Conceptual design has identified four main stakeholders/entities:
Certificate Authority (CA)
The issuer of the certificate (e.g., governmental agency, shipping company, MTIs)
Governing Body (GB)
Responsible to approve the issued certificate and oversee the process of certification (e.g., Port Authority, Ministry)
End-user
Certificate owner (e.g., ship crew member, seafarer)
Verifier (CO)
Interested party that needs to verify the certificate provided by the end-user (e.g., crewing department, port authority etc.)
Solution Characteristics
Process mapping has identified several tasks that constitute bottlenecks in the crewing process.
The value primarily lies in the network, therefore, the solution must be secure and scalable when broadened to involve multiple external partners. The solution leverages blockchain technologies because they possess some very desirable properties which are suitable for the problem at hand.
01. Shared record keeping
02. Multi-party consensus
03. Transparency and Independent Validation
04. Tamper evidence
05. Tamper resistance
NACRE
Platform
NACRE is built on a permissioned cloud-resident blockchain using a Proof-of-Authority consensus algorithm.
The GB, CA and CO use separate web UIs to interact with the blockchain. Seafarers use a dedicated NACRE mobile application to retrieve their certificates from the blockchain and prove their identity.
Value Added and Impact
The decentralized and tamper evident/resistant features of blockchain make it ideal for large networks with stakeholders that may not necessarily trust each other
Achieve business process reengineering (BPR) for any processes that require exchange of documentation
Fast authentication of seafarers and validation of any type of certificate regarding crew training and credentials
Marked reduction in cycle times
Increased collaboration, transparency and trust among stakeholders
Enhanced robustness of maritime transportation
Reduced costs resulting from optimized port calls by minimizing delays
Overall, increased efficiency and productivity and subsequent marked cost savings for all entities collaborating in a frictionless ecosystem
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