– Smartchain unifies fragmented sea,port,and inland transport data into a single IoT platform (IPLT) using private LTE and open standards.
– The platform uses AI,digital twins,and LLM assistants to optimize port operations and track ISO 14083-compliant carbon emissions.
– Shifting to a modular SaaS subscription model,Smartchain is scaling commercially and expanding internationally,starting with Vietnam.
KIJUNG-LEE, executive director of Smartchain / Source=Smartchain
More than 80% of global trade by volume moves by sea. South Korea is particularly dependent on maritime trade, with ports handling 99.7% of its import and export cargo volume. Port shutdowns and delays can have a substantial impact on the national economy.
The Review of Maritime Transport 2025, published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), illustrates the severity of bottlenecks at ports around the world. According to the report, average waiting times for container ships at ports in developed countries rose from 5.2 hours in 2023 to 6.4 hours in 2024. At ports in developing countries, waiting times increased from 10.2 hours to 10.9 hours over the same period.
Port operators also describe difficulties on the ground. Ships at sea, cargo-handling equipment on the docks, and outside trucks carrying containers all use different systems and speak different technological languages. The problem stems from shipping lines, terminal operators, inland carriers, and cargo owners working with fragmented information confined to their own IT systems. That is why the global shipping and logistics industries are making major investments in intelligent port logistics, or smart port, technologies.
Major ports overseas have already entered the race to integrate their data. The Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands has installed Internet of Things sensors across its quay walls, cranes, and roads and built a digital twin that recreates the entire port in a virtual environment. Germany’s Port of Hamburg has likewise installed more than 300 IoT sensors along roads within the port to coordinate trucks, trains, and cranes with vessel arrivals. Singapore’s Tuas megaport combines fifth-generation mobile communications, or 5G, with AI berth allocation algorithms to cut vessel turnaround times by 25%, with a goal of handling 65 million TEUs annually by 2040. One TEU is equivalent to a single 20-foot container.
The global port logistics market is moving beyond mechanical automation toward intelligent operations that use data to anticipate what comes next. South Korean ports, too, will have to adopt smart port technologies. That is drawing attention to Smartchain, a company specializing in digital transformation, or DX, and AI transformation, or AX, for ports. Its goal is to bring shipping, ports, logistics collaboration, interoperability with port hinterland logistics complexes, and networks linking maritime and air transport into a single connected system.
Connecting Fragmented Data Across Shipping, Ports, and Inland Transport
“Smartchain specializes in DX and AX for port logistics, bringing together and analyzing data from ports and logistics sites to support efficient, safe operations. At a port, countless resources move simultaneously, including ships, containers, cranes, yard equipment, transport vehicles, and workers. When information about them is scattered across different devices and systems, it is difficult to see the full picture or respond quickly to unexpected events. We use IoT technology to collect location and status information in the field, then analyze it using big data and artificial intelligence to predict operational delays, safety risks, and arrival times, helping operations managers make informed decisions.”
Smartchain specializes in digital and AI transformation for port logistics, gathering and analyzing the fragmented data generated across ports and logistics sites. It began operations in September 2022 as a research institute spin-off, receiving intelligent port logistics technologies and patents developed by Pusan National University through a government-funded research project under the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.
KIJUNG-LEE, executive director of Smartchain, sees the company’s purpose in the structural characteristics of the port logistics industry. Ports depend on the coordinated movement of numerous logistics resources: ships, containers, quay cranes, yard cranes, reach stackers, yard trucks, outside transport vehicles, and workers. The problem is that information on their locations and status is scattered across equipment from different manufacturers and the separate IT systems of individual companies.
“Port logistics is an industry where improving a single company’s operations does not necessarily improve the overall flow of cargo,” KIJUNG-LEE said. He explained that the work of four groups is linked like a chain: shipping lines that operate vessels, container terminal operators that load and unload cargo, inland carriers that move containers, and the shippers that own the cargo.
Smartchain focuses on building intelligent ports using IoT technology / Source=Smartchain
Consider what happens when a ship’s arrival is delayed. The terminal operator must immediately redraw its berth assignments and cargo-handling schedule. Crane operating schedules and staffing plans change, while dispatch schedules for outside trucks arriving to collect containers fall out of sync. Unless stakeholders receive those updates in real time, trucks can end up waiting in long lines outside the terminal while enormous cranes sit idle inside. That is why Smartchain is directing its capabilities toward connecting data across shipping, ports, and inland transport rather than limiting its work to automating individual tasks.
“A vessel’s estimated arrival time, its berthing schedule, the status of work inside the terminal, container locations, cargo-handling equipment status, and truck arrival times cannot be viewed in isolation,” KIJUNG-LEE said. “Efficiency improves only when all of those processes are connected as one coordinated logistics flow.”
To that end, Smartchain has recently expanded its focus from digital transformation to AI transformation. If DX lays the groundwork by converting information previously exchanged on paper or over the radio into connected digital data, AX uses AI to identify patterns in that data, predict what will happen next, and recommend the best course of action.
Smartchain envisions building One Platform, bringing shipping, port, and inland logistics information together on a single screen. On the platform, shippers would be able to see where their cargo is at sea and when it will reach a factory warehouse. Terminal operators would learn which cranes and work crews to deploy, and when, to complete work fastest. Inland carriers would calculate when to dispatch trucks to eliminate waiting at terminal gates. Getting the right information to the right people at the right time, clearing blockages in the main arteries of logistics, is how Smartchain defines the essence of AX for port logistics.
Building a Competitive Edge With High-Precision, Integrated IoT Infrastructure
Smartchain’s core business is an IoT-based intelligent port logistics solution. It comprises three layers: port IoT infrastructure, an integrated port IoT platform known as IPLT, and smart port services.
The IoT infrastructure, the front line of field data collection, is designed to withstand harsh, complex port environments. In container yards where steel containers are stacked as high as apartment buildings, GPS dead zones frequently emerge. To address this, Smartchain has built dedicated private LTE and Cat.M1 IoT networks for ports and deployed equipment-mounted location-sensing devices, or RTDs, alongside wearable devices for workers, or WTDs.
Sensors mounted on mobile equipment transmit location data, crane programmable logic controller(PLC), status, and yard truck tachograph data, referred to as TACO, every 0.2 seconds. In field trials at a Port of Busan terminal, the system recorded a root mean square positioning error of 5.6 centimeters, nearly halving the original target of 10 centimeters. GPS dead-zone identification and sensor signal collection rates both exceeded 90%. Smart helmets and smartwatches worn by workers update their positions every 0.5 seconds with accuracy within one meter, while providing heart-rate monitoring, hazard alerts, and Smart PTT group voice communications. The system can also connect to intelligent CCTV cameras that detect intrusions, loitering, fires, and worker collapses while reading container identification numbers and vehicle license plates; head-up displays that show work instructions and hazard warnings on yard truck windshields; and augmented reality glasses for cargo inspectors.
All of that data flows into the integrated port IoT platform. Smartchain has concentrated its efforts on establishing a competitive edge in this layer. About 60% of container terminals worldwide currently use commercial terminal operating systems(TOS). Although global IT companies offer general-purpose cloud IoT platforms, those platforms do not fully accommodate the specialized communications protocols of port cargo-handling equipment or the operating procedures unique to each terminal. Nor can operators simply replace cranes costing billions of won and rip out their existing operating systems to adopt a new solution.
Smartchain’s strength lies in integrating shipping, ports, and logistics into a single platform / Source=Smartchain
“Every port uses different equipment manufacturers, communications methods, and operating systems,” KIJUNG-LEE said. “We focused on designing a platform that extracts and connects the necessary data while allowing existing equipment and systems to remain in use.”
The key is a combination of oneM2M, an international IoT standard, and IPLT, a proprietary protocol tailored to intelligent ports. “Put simply, we have provided a common translator so equipment from around the world that speaks different languages can communicate freely within one platform,” KIJUNG-LEE added. The platform’s architecture uses distributed parallel processing to handle large volumes of data generated simultaneously by more than 100,000 devices in under two seconds. Data from automatic identification systems, or AIS, GPS units on outside trucks, and intelligent CCTV video feeds are also processed through open application programming interface, or API, connectors.
The business applications turn that collected data into practical value. The company offers services across four progressively advanced levels: monitoring that displays current locations as points on a screen, diagnostics that identify the causes of problems, forecasting that anticipates bottlenecks and risks, and decision support that helps field managers choose the best response.
A leading example is Multi Cycle YT Ordering, a location-based yard truck dispatch service. Traditionally, ports assigned a fixed number of yard trucks to each quay crane in dedicated groups. When work at one crane took longer than expected, its assigned trucks would queue up, while a crane at a neighboring berth might sit idle for lack of trucks. Smartchain’s solution calculates the real-time location and operating status of every yard truck in the terminal, immediately assigning each truck to the next job closest to where it completed its previous one. This approach reduces the number of yard trucks needed by 20% while increasing crane productivity. Integration with a cloud-based TOS also creates a structure that cuts the total cost of ownership, or TCO, for system deployment and operation by 30%.
Its safety management service, SafePort, detects more than 12 types of accident risks with accuracy above 90% and uses big data to predict accident risks with 85% accuracy. End-to-end processing, from a device through the platform to an alert reaching a worker in the field, takes no more than three seconds. “Our greatest asset is the experience we gained testing and validating our technology against the actual equipment and communications environment at Busan Port Terminal (BPT), which operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,” KIJUNG-LEE said. “Smartchain’s strength is our ability to take responsibility for the entire connected process, from consulting and platform implementation to AI service development and maintenance.”
Winning Over a Cautious Industry With Field Data and Modular Subscriptions
Even exceptional technology remains a research paper if no one in the field chooses to use it. Smartchain’s biggest challenge is likewise establishing its technology in the cautious port industry and turning it into a commercial service customers are willing to pay for.
Ports are critical, security-sensitive facilities where even a one-hour shutdown can paralyze a country’s import and export logistics. When introducing new software or sensors, terminal operators must closely examine whether they will conflict with existing cargo-handling systems, whether the data will remain accurate and uninterrupted, and, above all, how much working time and operating expense they will save relative to the investment. Claims of technological superiority alone are unlikely to open doors.
KIJUNG-LEE said the company has chosen to tackle those difficulties head-on. It is working with domestic terminal operators to run prototypes in live commercial environments and produce figures that customers can recognize in their daily operations. “Beyond checking whether the technology works properly, we are demonstrating measurable results: how many minutes outside trucks save waiting at the gate, how much crane and yard truck utilization improves, and how much less time it takes to prepare dispatch plans,” he said. “We plan to build a track record of improvements that reflect feedback from field personnel and use those results to expand to other ports and logistics companies.”
Smartchain is addressing the challenges of a cautious port market by refining its technology / Source=Smartchain
Breaking down data barriers among stakeholders is another substantial challenge. Shipping lines hold vessel operating information, terminal operators control cargo-handling data, and carriers retain truck dispatch information, each treating it as commercially sensitive. Bringing those datasets together requires technical compatibility as well as prior agreement among companies on how much information to disclose and who bears responsibility for security incidents or errors. Smartchain is helping shipping lines, terminals, carriers, and port authorities reach agreement by offering standardized interfaces and a simplified data integration structure that allow them to exchange essential information securely without rebuilding their existing IT systems.
The company is also reshaping its revenue model. To move beyond the limitations of one-off systems integration, or SI, revenue common among companies that build and install software systems, it has adopted a modular strategy that lets customers combine individual services. Customers reluctant to introduce a large system all at once can begin with the functions they need most, choosing from vessel arrival forecasting, yard truck dispatch optimization, worker safety management, and carbon emissions calculation. Following installation, the company is prepared to shift to a software-as-a-service, or SaaS, subscription model that combines data analysis with predictive information for a fixed monthly fee. In the private sector, its plan is to generate solution installation revenue of about 300 million won per site while rolling out subscription services priced at roughly 1 million won a month to 10,000 companies, targeting stable annual recurring revenue of about 10 billion won.
Another challenge is the scarcity of people who understand the realities of dockside operations, advanced software, and AI algorithms equally well. “We are working to give our employees more opportunities to engage with both the hard work of port operations and data technology, rather than looking only at code on a screen,” KIJUNG-LEE said. “We are also filling gaps through technology alliances with specialists in different fields, including Pusan National University’s Institute of Industrial Artificial Intelligence, Samwoo Immersion, Ecomarine, and GPANS Smartlo.”
A Support Program That Connected Ports and Technology
Smartchain is continuing to advance its technology after being selected for the Collaborative Support Program for Marine and Fisheries Startups and Venture Businesses, jointly operated by IBK(Industrial Bank of Korea) and the Korea Institute of Marine Science & Technology Promotion (KIMST).
At its launch, Smartchain received smart port IoT integration platform technology and three core patents from Pusan National University, including patents covering trajectory data processing and a data conversion device for predicting completion times. The initial platform technology focused on collecting and managing the locations and status of cranes, yard trucks, workers, and facilities within ports. Building a truly intelligent port, however, required bringing the real-time movements of approaching vessels into the platform as well.
Smartchain expanded its integrated IoT platform capabilities through the Collaborative Support Program for Marine and Fisheries Startups and Venture Businesses / Source=Smartchain
With support from the program, Smartchain began expanding its existing integrated IoT platform to incorporate AIS data. AIS is a system that exchanges vessels’ real-time positions, speeds, headings, and identification numbers. Through the program, Smartchain developed software to collect and integrate AIS data and built a unified operating interface that allows operators to monitor vessel movements at sea alongside cargo-handling equipment activity on the docks, all on one screen.
That finally connected data previously separated into three domains: the sea, covering vessel operations; the port, covering berthing and cargo handling; and inland logistics, covering container movements into and out of terminals and road transport. The integration makes it possible to predict a ship’s arrival accurately before it enters port boundaries, allowing cranes and trucks to prepare in advance.
Testbed validation and connections with prospective customers also supported the company’s growth. The program helped it establish development and testing environments, thoroughly verify functionality and performance, and hold detailed commercialization discussions with companies considering adopting the solution. “Turning university research into a product that sells requires continual refinement to meet demanding field requirements and demonstrate reliability,” KIJUNG-LEE said. “This support program gave us the foundation to move product enhancement, performance validation, and adoption discussions with actual customers forward as one continuous process.”
Aiming to Become a Global Leader in AI Transformation for Port Logistics
Smartchain is now producing tangible results on three fronts: public-sector IT projects, improvements to its own solutions, and expansion into global markets. It has secured a series of key projects helping shape the digital future of the Port of Busan. The company completed a medium- to long-term development strategy and an information strategy plan, or ISP, for Chain Portal, the port logistics information-sharing service operated by the Busan Port Authority (BPA). It also completed consulting work to improve the Transshipment Shuttle System (TSS), which supports container transfers between terminals. It is currently participating in projects to build an AI-based big data statistics system and upgrade Chain Portal, transforming a system primarily used to retrieve historical statistics into an intelligent service centered on data analysis. The industry knowledge gained from working closely with shipping lines, terminals, and carriers to understand their data needs has fed directly into its own platform.
The company is also advancing green and carbon-neutral technologies to address environmental regulations affecting the global shipping and logistics industries. Since 2023, Smartchain has participated as a joint research institution in a project to develop a digital twin-based carbon management platform for smart ports and ships, part of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources’s regional innovation cluster development R&D program.
After building the Smart-Green Port support system in accordance with ISO 14083, the international standard for calculating greenhouse gas emissions from transport chain operations, the company developed technology to simulate carbon emissions under different operating scenarios within a digital twin that faithfully reproduces a real port. The technology allows operators to compare cargo-handling methods in a virtual environment to identify ways to shorten working time and minimize carbon dioxide emissions, without changing actual crane or truck deployments. It has also introduced a prototype smart carbon management platform designed to help manufacturers address supply chain carbon regulations. For South Korean importers and exporters facing such regulations in markets including the European Union (EU), the platform calculates emissions by container and cargo shipment across the entire journey, from vessel operations and port cargo handling to inland truck transport.
Smartchain plans to complete field performance validation of its expanded intelligent port logistics solution prototype, fully incorporating AIS data, by March 2027. It has already signed memorandums of understanding, or MOUs, with major prospective customers in South Korea for solution adoption and field deployment, and has begun refining specific functions to suit their operating environments.
Keeping pace with advances in AI, the company has also launched a roadmap for conversational AI and assistant services incorporating large language models, or LLMs. It plans to complete an upgrade to its AI port operations assistant by December 2026, followed by a port safety assistant in June 2027 and a carbon neutrality support assistant in December 2027. Instead of navigating complex dashboard menus, field personnel will be able to ask questions in natural language and receive immediate briefings from an AI assistant on current conditions, predictive analysis, and the best response scenarios.
KIJUNG-LEE, executive director of Smartchain / Source=Smartchain
Smartchain is looking toward roughly 1,200 terminals overseas. Vietnam, an emerging hub for maritime logistics in Southeast Asia, is among the first markets showing interest in the company’s platform. In September 2026, Smartchain signed an MOU with local company Business Connecting Platform to enter the Vietnamese market through a global expansion program led by Pusan National University. It is refining a business model tailored to the market by analyzing demand among Vietnamese ports and logistics companies, whose digital infrastructure has struggled to keep pace with rapidly growing cargo volumes.
Smartchain’s data network is ready to set sail toward a new standard for global shipping and port logistics. “We will bring our individual R&D achievements together into a powerful product portfolio spanning port operations, safety, and carbon management, with the integrated IoT platform at its core, rather than leaving them as disconnected prototypes,” KIJUNG-LEE said. “Our mission extends beyond moving cargo faster and reducing costs. It also means building sustainable ports where workers in demanding environments return home safely and where we reduce the planet’s carbon footprint.”
By Hyung-seok Kang (redbk@itdonga.com)