Trials Success for Container Tracking Technology

The trials, which involved extensive testing of black boxes installed onto a ThermoKing Reefer, were conducted in the South China Seas during March 2007, and were verified by the STET Maritime Bureau.

The black boxes were interrogated several thousand times during the trials, with a high success rate.

SECURED by CargoTrax, combines military grade precision with existing standards based technology, providing the accuracy required by shippers and government security services, while adding less than 2% to the cost of container rental, when the insurance premium discounts are taken into consideration.

SECURED by CargoTrax, developed jointly by CargoTrax Oy of Finland and TriaGnoSys GmbH of Germany, is based on GSM, GPRS and GPS technology. It allows 24/7 global real-time security monitoring of containers and, of particular importance to refrigerated containers, monitoring of critical conditions that ensure the integrity of containerised cargo that can be worth up to $10m per container.

Dr. Markus Werner, managing director of TriaGnoSys, confirming the success of the trial, said, ‘I am pleased to report that all the test messages sent from various monitoring boxes and test SIM cards via the network on board the Pacific International Lines of Singapore vessel ‘Kota Gema’r were captured and correctly logged. It was further confirmed that the subsequent forwarding of messages through the ground segment, provided by our partner FirstMobile, worked perfectly, and all information was correctly delivered to the remote monitoring application server.’

SECURED by CargoTrax, available later in 2007, monitors status of the container’s cargo and the security of the container using a state of the art, officially compliant RFID container door eSeal. This transmits a ‘heart-beat’ pulse in regular intervals via satellite to control centres both on the ship and on the ground, which can include the shipping company’s headquarters, the ship’s home port operator, or government security services. If the seal is compromised in any way, a panic ‘alarm’ signal is transmitted immediately, as is information about changes in temperature, humidity, vibration, light, and volumetric pressure, as well as levels of oxygen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide.

Stephen Lowe, CEO of CargoTrax added, ‘CargoTrax will enhance the safety and security of the cargo, which in turn means reduced marine insurance premiums. Furthermore, the total end to end visibility of the security of the container means that port and security officials will be able to process the shipments more quickly, providing significant time savings.’