RFID Container Service

October 10, 2007 by Splatty  
Filed under RFID, Seafreight

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Last summer I was in talks with a potential ocean import customer and as I was uncovering potential needs, my customer said that he was unhappy with his current provider. When asked why, he said it was because they could not tell him with exact precision the location of his container on a vessel transiting the Pacific Ocean. Most customers understand that the transit time from China to the West Coast is roughly 12 days so they usually do not care what part of the Pacific Ocean their container is crossing as long as the container hits the port on time.

I remember thinking:

1. Why would anyone care?
2. This customer could be a nightmare.
and
3. Regardless of which forwarder moves his containers, nobody is going to have that information.

That could all change thanks to RFID. An article from Transport Intelligence details what I believe is the first use of RFID in tracking ocean containers throughout the supply chain.

According to the article, Schenkers has recently begun testing RFID container service on containers from Hamburg to Shanghai. Initially 10 containers are being equipped with an RFID device which monitors container movement via GPS tracking. The RFID chip broadcasts the location of the container as well as certain environmental conditions.

However the apparent ‘real-time’ capability of Schenker’s project highlights the potential to improve container management using this technology. It will give forwarders the ability both to manage their own container assets better as well as offer customers better ‘visibility’ for their loads. The latter is now an important aspect of both shipping lines’ and forwarders’ service-offering to large customers. It appears that this type of wireless technology offers the ability for forwarders to reduce their dependence on the container shipping lines to generate ‘visibility’ information for them, hence increasing their power.

This could give forwarders a tremendous advantage in real time tracking of cargo movement and could prove extremely beneficial to container management in container yards as well.

RFID Video

The downside of RFID

RFID – No Longer Just For Your Supply Chain

Savannah and Shanghai ports to test container tracking