Global Cargo Monitoring / Cargo Tracking / Supply Chain Intelligence

In a JOC.com article from last week a US congresswoman is quoted as following: “I have said it once and I will say it again, we need 100 percent scanning at our ports. The risks are too high not to.” I’d like to use an analogy in the discussion about 100% container scanning. Imagine you have your house inspected by the police to make sure no thief is in the house who could harm you or steal your valuable goods. After successful inspection, the police move away and your house remains unguarded and unlocked. There is a short moment the house can be considered secure and trusted. But shortly after, the house is wide open again for any gatecrasher. Even worse. Because of the inspection, you feel secure and you lose any usual caution, which could lead to the situation of being negatively surprised easily. The discussion about the 100% container scanning is comparable with the house inspection. For a short moment the container might be marked as secure, if the scanning data...

The package delivery turns out to be a wrong delivery, the new LCD TV screen ordered remains black, the auctioned designer piece turns out to be plagiarism - in everyday life, we are often suffering the effects of improper handling of goods. Which is a minor inconvenience for the private citizen, causes in industry and trade high economic damage. Today's supply chains are polynomial and international with a high degree of complexity anda lack of transparency. The causes of integrity violations are often not found. Who is responsible for the transport damage, who pays the cost of lost production? The clarification of the question of guilt is time consuming and expensive. Avoid such scenarios, by having your supply chain under control. Ideally, the supply chain manager always knows where and in which condition his merchandise is. To collect the plurality of information different technologies are used that give whole containers its own intelligence to provide additional information,...

Attached a picture of a container, which was exposed to a shock of 20G while in transport. Thanks to real-time cargo monitoring, the shipper immediately was able to assess the impact on its cargo and make decisions on - continuing the trip, and/or  - reorder cargo in a new container - inspect container - claims handling - proactively inform client The real-time monitoring also allows to precisely identify - location of incident, - time, - custody, and a historical analysis on how often such incidents happen(ed), where and in whose custody. All this information allows to mitigate future risk, reduce insurance premium and capital cost.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/dec/10/silk-railway-freight-train-from-china-pulls-into-madrid The longest rail link in the world and the first direct link between China and Spain is up and running after a train from Yiwu in coastal China completed its maiden journey of 8,111 miles to Madrid. En route it passed through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany and France before arriving at the Abroñigal freight terminal in Madrid. The railway has been dubbed the “21st-century Silk Road” by Li Qiang, the governor of Zhejiang province, where Yiwu is located. Its route is longer than the Trans-Siberian railway and the Orient Express. The first train was met by the mayor of Madrid, Ana Botella, and Spain’s minister of public works, Ana Pastor. It consisted of 30 containers carrying 1,400 tonnes of cargo – mostly toys, stationery and other items for sale over Christmas across Europe. According to China’s ambassador to Spain, Zhu Banzao, it will return laden with win...