Page 32 - Sphere No.9 (Sep 2003)

P O R T S
SPHERE
1230
Secure containers leave their port of origin on board a vessel. Each container can
now be tracked to its final destination along Smart and Secure Tradelanes.
(Currently, six lanes are available: HK to Seattle; HK to Tacoma; ECT to NY; Felixstowe
to NY; Singapore to LA/LB; Antwerp to NY.)
The container arrives at its destination port where its integrity is
again checked using a hand-held device. Information on key supply
chain and security events is immediately available. Business processes have
been recorded, and container tamperings, mis-routes and delays have been
monitored and reported accurately throughout the global tracking network
in real-time.
6 7
reduction in Bill of Lading surcharges
and expedited freight.
Greater certainty of a container’s
location in the supply chain will also
allow shippers to reduce their inventory
of “safety stock.”
The US military, for example, has used
the sensor systems to move from just-in-
case logistics, where planners always
shipped extra in case something was lost
or delayed, and instead adopt a much more
efficient just-in-time logistics.
Meredith also anticipates that ship-
pers will enjoy across-the-board direct
and indirect cost savings as fewer ship-
ments get tangled in trade compliance
procedures and there is less risk of loss.
“Major retail shippers are already rely-
ing on imbedded computer chips to
protect products from theft,” he says.
“Many of these corporations are now
ready to adopt this type of technology
to track their containerised shipments.”
IT PEDIGREE
HPH has strong credentials in the IT
field, having won awards for the devel-
opment of a computer programme for
yard management and workflow systems
that arrange containers efficiently.
SST operates on an “open architec-
ture” software principle to read various
manufacturers’ RFID tags. The moni-
toring information is then transmitted
to software that alerts shippers on the
status of their cargo.
Naturally, shippers and other service
providers will be sensitive to who will
have access to the commercially sensi-
tive information.
Meredith explains that shipping
information is the property of the ship-
per. “The information provided to the
shipper for the monitoring of location
and sensor activity is one more input to
their data from service providers,” he says.
Each terminal facility has its own site
manager who collects the data from the
readers. This information is then sent to
the various shippers’ systems, or they can
access it from the Internet using their
passwords. “The protocols are in place
for security,” Meredith confirms, point-
ing out that there have been no security
breaches in the US Department of
Defense’s use of the system.
“The key to monitoring the loca-
tion and sensor activity of a ‘smart con-
tainer’ is the network of readers and the
ability to forward data to the shipper for
alerts,” notes Meredith. The terminal
operators’ network will be a large sector
of this but additional reading stations at
intermodal yards/facilities will further
enhance the network to provide closer
scrutiny of the shippers’ supply chain.
To date, the main company produc-
ing the smart locks is Savi Technology,
which clearly has a head start thanks to
This is going
to be the
next revolution
in technology