Utilizing blockchain technology, 3 major firms including Samsung SDS, Dutch bank ABN AMRO and the Port of Rotterdam have successfully completed a Proof-of-concept (PoC) shipment from South Korea to the Netherlands last week.

According to a report by The Maritime Executive, the shipment was reportedly delivered by a container. With the help of DELIVER tracking platform, the shipment process was instantly financed, fully tracked, and conducted without any paper documents needed.

DELIVER is an interoperable platform that supports Ethereum and Hyperledger applications. The integration of multiple blockchains is said to provide different advantages such as preventing double payment, notarizing documents and transferring assets.

“The Customs Clearance Blockchain System at the Korea Customs Service is based on Hyperledger Fabric, while Rotterdam Port in the Netherlands is using the Ethereum Platform […] We started the Deliver project to connect different platforms.”claimed Han Seung-yeop, a manager at Samsung SDS.

Prior to the deployment of blockchain technology, the shipment process is said to be ineffective and paper-heavy:

“Currently payments, administration and the physical transportation of containers still take place entirely via separate circuits […] This results in inefficiency, as many parties are involved and everything is organized via paper documentation. For instance, an average 28 parties are involved in container transport from China to Rotterdam.” stated Port of Rotterdam CFO Paul Smits.

After the first PoC shipment has successfully completed, the Port of Rotterdam is launching multiple pilot projects using DELIVER platform in the future. The goal is to provide an independent and global-scale shipping platform.  

The use of blockchain in customs and shipping procedures appears to become a source of interest even by companies. Earlier, the Port Authority of the Bay of Algeciras has reportedly entered a partnership with IBM on its shipping platform Tradelens, which is a blockchain-based platform jointly developed by IBM and shipping company Maersk.