A press release from Samsung made on the 22nd of October has announced that the tech giant’s IT subsidiary will be partnering with one of the major Dutch Banks, the ABN AMRO, in testing a Blockchain pilot that has been developed for use in the shipping industry.
The Merging Of Two Different Blockchain Networks
According to the press release made by Samsung SDS, which is the IT and tech arm of the Korean tech giant, the pilot will be used in testing the application on Blockchain in the shipping industry and will involve containers being shipped from an undisclosed location in Asia to the Netherlands using the port of Rotterdam, which is the largest shipping port in Europe by Freight volume.
The pilot will be tested through linking Samsung’s Enterprise Blockchain, the Nexledger, with the Corda platform from ABN AMRO. The Corda platform was developed by US firm R3 which is based in New York.
ABN AMRO has claimed that for the first time in the short history of the Blockchain technology, a pilot will be bringing together two different Blockchain projects stating that this will be made possible through an overarching notary that will enable the two Blockchain networks in two entirely different locations i.e. Korea and the Netherlands to connect.
Paperless Verifiable And Time Conscious Solution For Shipping
In a traditional shipping scenario, the whole process would involve an international trade finance transaction that would see the flow of payment, administration and the transportation of the containers physically take place in separate processes that would require a manual process that was paperwork intensive.
Daphne de Kluis, who is the chief of commercial banking at ABN AMRO has stated that the pilot will be integrating all these processes starting from workflow management to track and trace and will also be digitizing paper documentation like waybills as well as handled freight and services financing. The banking official stated that she sees the Blockchain powered logistical pilot leading to a solution that will, in the long term, save millions of euros as well as lead to improved efficiency and transparency of the whole process.
The whole process within the pilot will be paperless and will be confirming the receipt and payment of a trade electronically. The pilot will also enable real-time sharing of documents that will be accessible by the shipper, port operator, and the receiver.
Previous Dedications To Blockchain Technology
The three parties which are the port of Rotterdam, ABN AMRO and Samsung SDS will be launching the pilot at the beginning of the coming year. The port of Rotterdam Authority which is the operator of the port of Rotterdam has previously launched a Blockchain field lab that is tasked with conducting a research on decentralized technology and looking into the various applications that it could be used for.
Samsung SDS is currently a member of a consortium, which comprises of logistical giants and regulating authorities, which is focused on finding a way of putting all imports and exports within South Korea on a decentralized network.