SK Holdings C&C to Apply Blockchain Tech to Logistics

The blockchain technology, which has been used in the financial sector that requires higher levels of security, will be applied to logistics. It will enable to stably and systematically manage data related to logistics.   

SK Holdings C&C, a subsidiary of SK Group that provides IT services, announced on May 16 that it has developed “blockchain logistics service” for shipping companies at home and abroad.

Unlike the existing system that records and saves logistics data in central databases, SK Holdings C&C’s blockchain logistics service will allow multiple parties involved in a logistical process, including cargo owners, shipping firms and delivery companies on land, to share and manage data related to cargo all at once through a peer-to-peer (P2P) network. When shipping firms establish the blockchain logistics service, other interested parties can view all logistics data in real time. The company has decided to apply the blockchain technology, which saves personal information and online financial transaction information in several servers, to logistics.

The new blockchain logistics service will use SK Telecom’s Internet of Things (IoT) network, dubbed LoRa, to track and manage cargo containers. It allows real-time tracking of each container’s location while it is traveling on land through IoT sensors attached to the container. At sea, the sensors can collect the same data, but it can only be shared to customers through the LoRa network when the cargo arrives on land. The blockchain-based system can help secure source data reliability by connecting the logistics IoT technology and the blockchain technology and transparently manage cargo locations and conditions. It can also contribute to cutting the time of cargo delivery and operating costs.

SK Holdings C&C completed the test operation of its new blockchain logistics service on containers leaving South Korea for Shanghai. Oh Se-hyeon, head of the DT business development unit at SK Holdings C&C, said, “SK Holdings C&C’s. blockchain logistics service has been developed based on SK’s IoT and advanced logistics technologies and supply chain management systems. We will make an effort to establish a blockchain-based e-logistics network that can improve the international competitiveness of shipping companies by binding interested parties in the global logistics market with blockchain.”