Page 33 - Sphere No.9 (Sep 2003)

S PHERE
1231
In 1996,Watsons developed the smaller
11-litre water "Junior" to meet the
needs of the home user and in 1998 it
was first to launch the streamlined
light-blue "Handy Bottle" with an inte-
grated handle that made it simple and
easy to replace.
The “seal” of the RFID sensor system is finally broken. The movement of
cargo within the marine container has been accomplished with a high level
of security.
8
its track record with the US military.
But RFID hardware is not limited
to one company. “This is a quickly
developing sector that is going to be
the next revolution in technology,”
Meredith predicts.
A major container maker in China,
for example, has just signed on with a
proposal for installed imbedded readers
in their newly built containers, while
retailers and product manufacturers are
now making orders for RFID to track at
the product level.
“HPH welcomes more advanced
systems that may come into play,” says
Meredith. “Security is the incentive and
security protects our people and our
company’s assets,” he adds. “Our prime
motivation is to take concrete action
and do our part to provide a service to
shippers that enables them to better
secure their supply chains.”
ROLLOUT UNDER WAY
SST has undergone a rigorous testing
process. Phase 1 was launched in
December 2002 and focused on the
installation of the readers and location
monitoring. It has seen more than 900
containers secured from point-of-origin
to point-of-destination. In this phase,
more than 4,000 container location
monitoring and sealing events were
recorded, spanning the globe and
including ports in Rotterdam, Shanghai,
Bangkok, Semarang, Jakarta, Singapore,
southern China, and Hong Kong.
Phase 2 is now under way and the
focus is on sensor status monitoring,
while also expanding the volume of
tracked containers.
“A great deal of impetus will come
when, in return for shippers showing a
secure supply chain, governments give
them speedy access to land their goods,”
says Meredith. “Shippers who can pro-
vide accurate and comprehensive loca-
tion and sensor status of their containers
will be at the top of that fast lane list.
This is a collaborative effort and not a
competition of terminal operators to
build security into the global supply
chain.The participants in SST recognise
the importance of a secure trade lane to
the world economy and believe that at
present their initiative is the only one
upon which shippers can rely.”
As for the future, it’s quite feasible to
predict that someday soon all containers
will be “smart and secure”. And there’s
almost no limit to the potential of the
technology to keep shippers informed.
Besides tracking their goods via global
positioning, for example, they could
soon be keeping tabs on the temperature
within their container or even be able to
“see” their goods via remote cameras.
Now, if only our homes and offices
could be so secure.
This is a
collaborative
effort and not
a competition