VesselChain is a two person company in Barcelona building neutral verification infrastructure for green shipping corridors. The idea was published before the company existed, the platform is running, and the first paid pilot has not happened yet. This page says exactly where things stand.

The idea came first, and it is on the record

In July 2022, a year before the company was incorporated, Francisco Sarrias and Adrià Berenguer published Blockchain Vessel Maintenance Record Book in Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide. The argument was that the maritime industry already holds the compliance data it needs, but keeps it in closed silos where no counterparty can rely on it.

That is still the problem VesselChain works on. What changed is that the data now carries a price.

From programme to company to running platform

• 2023 · The company was formally established during B-Blue, the blue economy programme run by Barcelona Activa with the Port of Barcelona
• 2023 · Puertos del Estado awarded the project a grant in the Ideas call of the Ports 4.0 port innovation fund
• 2024 · Presented at Mobile World Congress and reached the finals of two Spanish innovation awards
• April 2025 · Published in Tecnonews, one month before the Mediterranean became an Emission Control Area, arguing that the bottleneck would not be the fuel but the ability to certify its type, origin and compliance
• June 2025 · The Alpha went live on the Ignis blockchain
• 2026 · Selected for A’Pelago’s Nordic Blue Programme, the Baltic blue economy accelerator

Where the platform actually is

Being precise about this matters more to a compliance professional than a feature list.

• The MVP is live on the Ignis blockchain. It handles vessel management, delivery upload, verifier signature and export. A demo is available on request in a call
• No paid pilot has run inside an operational corridor yet. That is what we are looking for
• No verification partnership is signed. The architecture is built for an accredited verifier to sign each entry, and we are actively looking for those partners

If you want a system with a customer list, this is early for you. If you want to shape how corridor fuel evidence works before it is settled, this is the right moment.

Recognition

With the exact position of each, because that is the only version worth publishing.

• Ports 4.0 · Puertos del Estado awarded a grant in the 2023 Ideas call of its port innovation fund, scoring 84 points among the 47 proposals selected from 87 submissions
• A’Pelago Nordic Blue Programme 2026 · Selected as one of 21 ventures from 160 reviewed across 12 countries
• BNEW 2023 · Finalist, top five of the Digital Industry vertical at Barcelona New Economy Week
• CEL Startups Awards 2024 · Finalist, one of nine selected from nineteen candidates by the Spanish Logistics Centre
• SWITCH 2025 · Represented Catalonia Trade & Investment as part of the Barcelona and Catalonia startup ecosystem in Singapore
• Memberships · Tech Barcelona, based at Pier01, and the Blockchain community of the Digital Catalonia Alliance

Why we are open about the Jelurida connection

VesselChain runs on Ignis, a child chain of Ardor, built by Jelurida. Francisco Sarrias works at Jelurida, and together with Borja Sarrias represents the company in Spain.

We state that rather than leave it to be discovered, because the obvious question about any platform built on a blockchain is what happens if that blockchain goes away.

We are not a customer of the technology we depend on. We are the people who represent it in this market.

It also means the coverage VesselChain receives from Jelurida is not independent validation, and we do not present it as such. The recognition above comes from public bodies, juries and accelerators with no stake in the outcome.

Who we are

Francisco Sarrias, telecommunications engineer and blockchain specialist. Founded Marinatel and works at Jelurida Swiss SA.

Borja Sarrias, co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer, graduate in Management of Business and Technology.

The company trades as Marinatel and Data and is based at the Blue Tech Port offices in Barcelona Pier01. Two people, one product, and no interest in pretending otherwise.

What we are looking for

• A corridor consortium willing to run a paid pilot on a real route
• An accredited verification body interested in signing entries into a shared record
• Shipowners and fuel suppliers who keep hitting the same problem: the calculation is easy, proving the inputs is not

Tell us the route, the counterparties and what you are being asked to prove. We will scope it with you in one call, and show you how the platform works if it is useful.