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32 Electronic


Issue 7 2014 - Freight Business Journal Fullscreen View


Temperature-controlled tracking: the next generation


monitoring of


temperature controlled shipments has been touted for several years as the safest way to ensure the cool chain is maintained. One would think, in fact, there wasn’t anything new to say about controlling the cool chain. But three press releases have landed in my inbox in the past two months boasting of new ‘asset tracking’ systems, making this writer, at least, wonder if previous claims for temperature tracking equipment were just..um...a cold, damp squib. Don Miller, director sales and


marketing for Globe Tracker International, which has launched a new tracking system for seafreight containers, throws some insight on the subject. “Yes, there has been temperature monitoring around for 20 years,” he admits, “but it has never been attached to telematics. In the past, using technology such as RFID (radio-frequency


identification), shippers could only review the temperature of their container, discover whether the door had been opened, and so on, aſter the unit was delivered and the tag removed. Now the container owner can obtain data in real time - remotely - so they can act if the cool chain has been broken.” For example, a shipper in one


country can see if the temperature has exceeded the maximum allowed anywhere on its journey and check the goods immediately they land, or have the shipment stopped if the cool chain has been compromised sufficiently to destroy the cargo. Or the shipper can see if the temperature was wrongly set at one stage in its journey, contact


the transport


company or terminal and get the temperature re-programmed as soon as possible. “Shippers or carriers can also obtain pre-shipment diagnostics of


By Marcia Macleod


equipment to see if it is likely to fail,” Miller adds. “Diagnostics takes 4-8 hours, so a container line can run the check on an empty container being returned to origin and, if necessary, remove it as soon as the vessel arrives, saving on storage/ demurrage charges.” Globe Tracker’s system,


developed in conjunction with Refrigerated Transport Electronics, also sends a text or email alarm if the container’s refrigeration unit goes off for any reason. Customers can also store the container’s history, allowing access to data required for insurance claims or other purposes. “Shipping is the last to adopt this


technology,” emphasises Miller. “It is already available on road and rail services. But the cost of technology has come down and demand for


data gone up.” WAM Technologies and AT&T


have also joined forces to develop wireless remote management of refrigerated equipment, primarily on seafreight and intermodal journeys, while Unisys is enhancing its Logistics Management System to allow airlines to better track and monitor ‘sensitive’ air cargo shipments. The new Unisys Pharmaceutical


Product Handling feature of LMS, due out later this year, will automatically capture and store data about temperature, dry ice levels and other environmental conditions during transport. This data will enable a full audit trail to be provided on demand. Although designed for pharmaceuticals, it can also be used to monitor the cool chain for perishable goods.


End-to-end stuff from K+N


Advances in technology have allowed forwarders to improve their services, too. Kuehne + Nagel has developed its first end-to-end seamless web-based airfreight processing system, KN FreightNet. The system takes customers from quotation, with instant response, through conversion of quote to booking and the uploading of necessary shipping documents to track and trace of consignments. Quotations are based on a few


shipment details, such as place of origin, final destination, weight and volume, with


all-inclusive


prices including fuel and security charges for Kuehne + Nagel’s range of airfreight products. Estimated transit times are also provided, allowing shippers to make an


informed decision about whether to accept the quote. Shipment details can be saved


as templates, enabling customers to re-book and compare quotes, or use them for regular, repeat consignments. “We always had certain components of the supply chain available electronically,” says senior vice president product and services, global air logistics, Marcel Fujike, “but this is the first end-to-end solution, including every aspect of the shipment, including trucking to and from the airport, and all to Cargo 2000 standards. “All our third party partners will


have links to the K + N systems. They must be able to feed back data quickly.”


The first pilots of KN FreightNet


occurred in Frankfurt and Chicago, before the company began rolling out the system to its other stations. At the time of writing, 30 stations were live, with another 90 due to start using KN FreightNet before the end of the year. UK stations should have had KN FreightNet up and running by the beginning of November. “We have been able to develop


and roll out the system quickly because all our stations now run the same hardware,” adds Fujike. “We changed our complete IT infrastructure before 2000, harmonising our equipment and systems throughout all of our stations.” Versions of KN FreightNet for


The ubiquitous app


Not a week goes by without yet another freight company boasting about


its new mobile


application. Hamburg Sud has an Android app with company news, information about timetables and offices and the ability to track and trace shipments; Fortec claims to be the first pallet network


to provide an ‘affordable and complete’ POD solution using the Android platform, allowing signatures collected on a smart phone to be automatically timed, dated and GPS stamped before being uploaded in real time; DFDS Seaways pilots a mobile booking system for its cross-channel ferry


services. But with the ubiquitous


presence of smartphones throughout the industry, shouldn’t mobile apps be taken for granted? Surely most shippers would think a company without a mobile app isn’t worth doing business with.


LCL movements in seafreight and European overland transport are due out in the second half of 2015.


+Panalpina has also expanded


its web-based services, adding a LCL sailing schedule to enable customers to view its entire LCL


network in order to select the best route for each shipment. Users


enter the origin and destination of the consignment and the service provides up-to-date information on transit times, cut-off times, arrival dates, deconsolidation


dates and the name of the vessel being used on that route.


Leſt to right: James Fernandez, VP global commercial operations, CHAMP Cargosystems; Alan Glen, general manager cargo services, Cathay Pacific; James Woodrow, director cargo, Cathay Pacific; John Johnston, CEO, CHAMP Cargosystems.


Cathay Pacific has selected CHAMP Cargosystems’ Cargospot for its new freight IT platform following a six-month design phase. Champ CEO John Johnston


explained that it would help the carrier further its ambitions in the air logistics market and further accelerate the soſtware company as “the provider of choice for leading global airlines”. Cathay Pacific cargo director,


James Woodrow said that the new technology will replace an in-house system introduced in the 1980s. He added: “The air cargo industry particularly needs to transform itself and modernise and needs a strategic approach to IT investments. Cathay Cargo has recognised this and together with CHAMP Cargosystems continues to innovate, invest and grow in support of the wider air cargo community.”


We’re all in this together...


Getting shipment information at an early stage, preferably pre-loading, is vital to deciding what approach is needed to high-risk cargo, World Customs Organisation secretary general Kunio Mikuriya told delegates to The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA)’s Air Cargo Forum (ACF) in Seoul on 7 October. He said that WCO had


started to work closely with the industry and the International Civil Aviation Organisation to find avoid duplication between supply chain partners. Earlier TIACA chairman


Oliver Evans warned that the air freight industry “is facing unprecedented challenges and unprecedented opportunities, we must face them together.”


///IT Cathay chooses Champ


Leſt to right, Doug Brittin, secretary general, TIACA; Kunio Mikuriya, secretary general, WCO; Raymond Benjamin, secretary general ICAO; Wan-su PARK , president and CEO of Incheon Airport; SUH Seoung-hwan, Korean minister of transport; Oliver Evans, chairman, TIACA; Enno Osinga, vice chairman, TIACA.


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