Blockchain Decision Path: When to Use Blockchains? Which blockchains do you mean?

A wide range of socioeconomic hopes are pinned on the transformative power of blockchain technologies. However, blockchain databases have noticeable drawbacks (i.e., scalability, capacity, latency, privacy) that clearly indicate that blockchain is not a silver bullet for all problems. The application and selection of blockchain need to be carefully assessed, depending on the problem and use case at hand. To support IT decision-makers, we develop a ten-step decision path that can help determine whether or not the application of blockchain is justified and, if so, which kind of blockchain to use. We apply this decision path to the case of the maritime shipping industry, and develop a blockchain prototype for this case.