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Issue 2 2015 - Freight Business Journal


///SECURITY It’s a paradox that


now it has been hardest to provide tracking and tracing of dangerous goods in airfreight, even though it is this mode that is obviously of the most concern. This is because the amount of energy needed to operate a conventional GSM-based (mobile-phone technology) device is more than enough to trigger an explosion. But Frederick Ronse, founder


Explosive growth for Ovinto Container control programme trains its sights on airfreight


it has until


in the middle of oceans and deserts; Europeans oſten forget that 70% of


the Earth’s land


area, let alone the sea, does not have GSM coverage. GSM data transmission can be affected also by peaks in mobile phone demand, most noticeably on New Year’s Eve, whereas satellites just keep on working. The military who are the prime users of such systems insist


that


and CEO of Belgian-based technology firm Ovinto thinks that he has the answer in his satellite-based system. “Almost every other track-and-trace system in the world is based on GSM, because it’s easy to set up and is a known quantity. But the problem is that you need 200 micro-joules of energy to power it – but only 0.019mJ will ignite something like hydrogen. The solution is to use as little energy as possible, which is why we have been working with satellite technology, and now we have one of the very few tracking systems that is certified to work with flammable goods.” Besides safety, satellite


systems have another advantage. Unlike fickle and patchy mobile phone systems, satellite systems are almost always available, particularly the 50-satellite Globalstar system which Ovinto uses. Signals cannot be blocked by obstructions like cranes or buildings and the system works


they are virtually 100% available. “ The company has


targeted shippers of Ethylene Oxide, one of the most explosive substances known to Man”


The batteries will go on


working for four years or more. One user also reported that the system carried on working aſter the rail tank it was mounted on was involved in a collision. Cost


is oſten cited as an


objection to using satellites, but Ronse argues otherwise. “In the EU we may have roaming agreements between countries but once you go outside there, you can pay tremendous amounts for GSM messages.” Satellite system provides charge a flat fee, covering the whole globe. Also, Ovinto has mastered – or rather, in this age of allegedly


unlimited GSM bandwidth,


revived – the art of compressing as much data onto available bandwidth, which helps keep communications costs down. In any case, Ronse sees the


cost of satellite communication coming down in time, though perhaps not as quickly as for GSM. Meanwhile, the Ovinto system


– which is certified and promoted by the European Space Agency - is currently being used on around 1,000 unpowered transportation units around the world. As a demonstration of its safety and capabilities, the company has deliberately targeted shippers of Ethylene Oxide, a vital substance used in shale gas extraction and fertiliser, but also one of the most explosive


substances known


to Man – a single trainload has more explosive power than all the V2 rockets used in World War II or a third of the power of the Hiroshima atomic bomb. As well as safety, the Ovinto


system also helps companies manage their unpowered mobile assets much more effectively. All data on location, temperature, shocks, how full they are or whether there are any leaks, for example, can be delivered into company IT systems, just as it would be with GSM-based telemetry. Ronse says: “As well as


improving safety, it also


improves efficiency. There aren’t many devices that can do that.”


Who’s been fiddling with your freight?


Andrew Harrison, director of UK-based Guardfreight prefers to refer to the eContainerlock his company is offering not as a tracker, but “a security and management system for the intermodal freight industry.” The UK-manufactured device has been cunningly designed to fit over the container locking bar and, once its security seal is in place, it is switched on and able to transmit the container’s whereabouts. Moreover, says Harrison, it has been designed to be as tamper- proof as possible. Even if the thieves attempt to break into the container by sawing through the bolt or even taking the doors off, the eContainerlock will transmit a tamper alert giving the exact time and location where the incident occurred. The device also covers the hub rivet and extends between the join


between the two container doors, cutting off that other favourite illicit entry point, the leſt-hand door. Battery life is estimated at 6-8


months based on four message reports a day. If it is set up for continuous motion reporting, as it might be by a truck operator, it should last a week on a single charge. Alerts are sent out through the mobile


phone networks


but positioning information is acquired by GPS (satellite) technology. If a message needs to be sent while the device has no phone signal, it stores it in its onboard memory and sends it at the first available opportunity. (Harrison points out that attempts to tamper with containers tend to happen at locations where mobile phone signals are available.) The seal could be cut or it would even be possible to shoot it off but


any interference “will give real- time information that something has happened to the freight,” explains Harrison. Such concerns may not be


uppermost in the UK, but it is a very real possibility in Africa, South America or other parts of the developing world. As well as containers, the device


can also be adapted to fit on truck doors of various types and adapters are available that can be locked over the TIR cords used on international trailers. This could be a boon for trucks passing through Calais or other points where there are illegal stowaways trying to get on board trailers, argues Harrison. Again, the device may not prevent this happening, but it will provide a record of when an where it happened which could prove invaluable when arguing whether or not the driver was complicit.


The Container Control Programme, originally


set up to improve


security for cargoes moving around the world in maritime boxes, is now add airfreight to its remit, says Gary Skjoldmose-Porter, regional programme coordinator for the UN- run scheme. Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bangladesh and Pakistan are all signed up to a new programme, which will target the considerable amount of illicit drugs, contraband and terrorist material that gets flown around the world. Intelligence of the type already


gathered by CCP for maritime trade could easily have easily detected the Yemen ‘printer cartridge’ bombs of a couple of years ago, Porter considers. “We could have stopped it straight away,” he told delegates to the Transport Security Conference in London on 2 December. CCP was started by the UN’s


Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in 2004, initially to provide intelligence to help pick out which of the 750 million worldwide box movements a year were of genuine interest


to the security


or law-enforcement agencies. It had been found that picking out containers at random – at best 2% of the global total, and possibly far less – was unproductive and disruptive. The aim is to identify high-risk containers while facilitating the flow of legitimate trade, targeting the international criminals who are making billions of of smuggling, drug sales and other activities. The programme started out in


The device could also be fitted


to load restraint straps, and it could even be customised for the sliding doors on rail van-type wagons. Harrison sees other


developments. Each device carries a unique ‘QR’ code, which an


authorised person could


interrogate with a scanner and information on when the unit was last opened or interfered with shared with bodies such as UK Border or HM Revenue and


just two countries – Ecuador and Senegal – with Pakistan following soon aſterwards and it now extends to 20, with funding in place to add another 30. Others want to join – Angola, Bhutan, Cameroon, Cuba, East Timor, Haiti, Mozambique, Namibia and Uruguay.


aren’t going to give too much away, but there is a lot that can be learned from a bill of lading. Is the consignee a private individual, or does the name and address of the business not check out in Google or the local phone book? That can be a giveaway. So can prepaid freight,


“CCP isn’t about buying new $2 million


scanners and plonking them down in places where staff will not have the knowledge to use them”


Most of the countries in CCP


are in the developing world, where hardware and systems are usually lacking. However, CCP isn’t about buying new $2 million scanners and plonking them down in places where staff will not have the knowledge to use them, still less maintain sophisticated equipment,


Porter explains.


The aim, he explains, is to help companies that don’t enjoy access to western technology by helping them develop targeted strategies and to profile potentially suspect consignments. CCP’s focus is much more on


training and – not always an easy task – encouraging customs, police and drug enforcement agencies to cooperate with each other. It also tries to focus on local needs and conditions; for example, while it may have ‘containers’ in its name, in some parts of the world it is mostly open boats that will be searched. Where does intelligence come from? Clearly, the security forces


Customs. It would also give a complete


audit trail of the freight’s journey, including the legitimate opening of the seal within a predefined ‘geo- fenced’ area. Harrison also plans to develop


a return logistics service, allowing those customers who want to use the devices on a one-way basis to return them economically – it has been purposely designed to weigh less than 2kg, below the courier’s


or cargo that is clearly worth far less than the cost of the freight. A scrap car could be concealing drugs, or contraband. Drugs may sometimes be mixed


with or be hidden by legitimate cargo; there have even been cases of cardboard boxes containing drugs within their layers. Cannabis, heroin or cocaine


are not the only drugs being traded across borders. Sometimes medical drugs are smuggled in without payment of duty. Other illegal goods could be timber that is supposed to be protected


under international


conventions like CITES, stolen vehicles or cigarettes or simply goods that have been misdeclared to avoid payment of duty. Some of seizures in 2013


included 1,273 tonnes of ‘precursor’ chemicals, used to turn raw materials like poppy seeds into hard drugs; Afghanistan, a major producer of heroin, alone consumes 400-450t a year of these.


companies’ minimum weight break. Unlike a lot of devices on the market, the eContainerlock is designed to be readily installed and uninstalled from the transport unit rather than having to be riveted or welded on. Guardfreight plans to sell most


of its devices – complete with the IT package – through re-sellers such as telematics firms or monitoring companies looking for a unique selling point to offer their clients.


Don’t die on me!


We’ve all experienced that sinking feeling when our phone or mobile computer dies on us at the crucial moment and the manufacturer’s claim of several hours’ or days battery life comes as scant consolation. Makers of mobile tracking devices aren’t above painting too rosy a picture of their devices’ capabilities and it is one of the limiting factors on the usefulness of such equipment. How long the battery lasts depends on factors such as the number of times it communicates – or attempts to –


with the outside world or the outside temperature – too low or too high can seriously reduce the figure. Many shippers complain that a device that was meant to track their cargo all the way from China to point of delivery in the UK runs out of steam in the Straits of Malacca. Hunter Global Tracking markets, as its unique selling


point, the long-lasting qualities of its batteries. For example, its Bulldog device has an autonomous battery that can last up to 15 years


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