Samsung Rolls Out Pioneering Blockchain-Based Customs Service

Samsung SDS, the information technology unit of South Korean giant Samsung Electronics, has partnered with Korea Customs Service (KCS) and a consortium of 48 other insurance providers, shipping companies, and government bodies to leverage Samsung’s Nexledger platform and use blockchain technology to streamline and automate customs procedures.

In a statement, Samsung said the platform would implement a customs system with the capacity to radically improve the prevention of fraud, smuggling and harmonizing customs process for quicker and more efficient transactions.

Kim Hyung-tae, vice president of logistics division of Samsung SDS, commented on the deal:

"We will contribute to enhancing the competitiveness of national logistics by further strengthening the leadership of logistics blockchain field with the successful execution of this project."

For his part, Samsung SDS CEO Won-pyo Hong said his company would build its blockchain platform to be the world's first blockchain-based export customs clearance service managed by KCS.

The consortium expressed confidence in Nexledger’s capability when it pilot-tested Samsung SDS in May by allowing a group of 38 companies, research institutions, and public bodies, to have access to its proprietary blockchain platform. It also included the Busan Port Authority, South Korea’s Ministry of Ocean, and Hyundai Merchant Marine in the pilot.

Under the deal, the KCS would establish a cooperation system to jointly respond to changes in the industry while restructuring business procedures and creating export customs and logistics services with civil organizations participating in the project.

The export customs logistics service that is to be constructed under the agreement will also allow the export-related organizations and companies to quickly share the documents that are generated at each stage from the customs declaration of the exported goods to the final delivery process and fundamentally blocks any opportunity to forge the documents.

Samsung SDS will apply the  Nexledger blockchain platform, which has real-time mass transaction processing, smart contract, and management monitoring system, to various industries such as finance, manufacturing, logistics, and the public sector, the statement added.

In August, Samsung SDS had completed the creation of a blockchain-based system that helps South Korean financial institutions facilitate ID verification processes. The partnership between Samsung SDS and the Korea Federation of Banks (KFB), created the BankSign tool, which is designed to streamline transactions in mobile and online banking.