Accelerated carrier invoice factoring using predictive freight transport events

TL;DR

This paper proposes a blockchain-based predictive approach to enable carriers to initiate invoice factoring before goods delivery by forecasting invoice values at various freight milestones, thus providing faster access to capital.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method for predicting invoice values during freight transport using shipment tracking data and smart contracts, facilitating early invoice factoring.

Findings

Accurate invoice value prediction at freight milestones.

Enables early invoice factoring before goods delivery.

Supports installment release based on prediction accuracy.

Abstract

Invoice factoring is an invoice financing process where business organizations sell their invoices to banks or financial institutions at a discount to gain faster access to the invoice amount. In global trade, ocean and land carriers exercise invoice factoring to gain quick access to the money they get paid for the shipment of consignments by shippers. Shippers typically clear the invoice payment within 60-90 days of goods getting delivered. In order to get early access to capital, carriers initiate invoice factoring after the completion of goods delivery to the shipper. In this work, we provide an approach to enable accelerated carrier invoice factoring even before the delivery of goods. Carrier invoice value for a given shipment depends on the actual values of shipment tracking events. We predict the carrier invoice value at different freight transport milestone events as the goods transportation progresses from supplier to shipper using smart contracts on a blockchain network that is operated by the global trade logistics participants. The prediction at a given stage is based on past shipment tracking events and predicted future shipment tracking events. Accurate prediction of invoice value for ongoing shipment enables the carrier organization to initiate invoice factoring on the trade finance network before the completion of goods delivery to the shipper. Further, based on the past accuracy of prediction models, the financial institutions may choose to release the invoice amount in installments at different freight transportation milestone events.