Nov/Dec 2003

Freight operators could soon be able to track and monitor cargo containers anywhere in the world. That's the promise behind the announcement of phase two of the Smart and Secure Tradelanes initiative.

Launched at the turn of the decade under the aegis of the US-based Strategic Council on Security Technology, the SST initiative has so far focused strongly on container security - and in particular, on methods of combating the threat of terrorism.

Whilst security remains high on the agenda, the second phase also aims to draw more practical logistical benefits form the scheme. According to SCST chairman John Coburn, it "will focus on ways to improve both efficiency and security by facilitating trade." The organisation says it aims to extend the scope of the scheme into existing supply chain systems, taking in rail and road as well as maritime operations, and will incorporate new technologies such as sensor-equipped "smart containers".

The scheme already uses a variety of technologies, but focuses particularly on RFID (radio frequency identification) tagging of containers. This enables containers to be "interrogated" as they pass in and out of ports equipped with appropriate communications infrastructure.

 

The port operating companies initially spearheading the scheme were Hutchison-Whampoa, PSA Corporation and P&O Ports. Among them they were said to account for 70 per cent of the world's container port operations. On the technology front RFID specialist Savi has been a leading light in the initiative, but it works alongside more than 60 other suppliers including names such as EXE, Manugistics, Qualcomm, Intermec and recently also LXE.

Three of the participants - Savi Technology, E J Brooks and RAE Systems - have just announced an inter-connected modular sensor system that is said to add new levels of intelligence to cargo containers at very low cost. They say it will be possible to configure containers on a "per shipment" basis to detect intrusions, sense interior environmental changes in temperature or humidity, detect hazardous cargo such as radioactive materials, and wirelessly communicate their location and security status to a global information network in real time.

The cost of retrofitting a container on a per-shipment basis with the kind of smart systems envisaged is said to range from less than a dollar to up to $10.