Global Cargo Monitoring / Cargo Tracking / Supply Chain Intelligence

Betzdorf, Luxembourg, May 22, 2014 LuxSpace received an ESA development contract for the design of an innovative container tracking device. The project volume amounts to EUR 2.5 million of which 50 % is financed by ESA. In cooperation with their two sister companies OHB teledata (D) and megatel (D) and project partner arviem (CH), the innovative cargo monitoring device will offer localisation and cargo condition monitoring capabilities via a wireless sensor network, and report using satellite or ground communication systems. Apart from the technical development, the project partners will offer the cargo monitoring device within a comprehensive customer tailored real time cargo monitoring service, including analytics and operational support. "The service concept will ensure the transparency and the overall control of the cargo shipment process which conventional reporting hardly allow", as pointed out by Jochen Harms, Managing Director of LuxSpace. The project named RTICM (...

Fuel prices remain volatile and continue to increase. The price of fuel has a direct impact on transportation costs. Some experts have calculated that each $10 increase in the cost of barrel of oil results in a 4-cent per mile increase in transportation rates. That adds up! For an average arviem client, this would mean around 400US$ more for each and every shipment. Increased transportation costs can affect the optimal design of a supply chain. With low transportation costs, it often makes sense to pool inventory in fewer locations so you can optimize space, labor and inventory pooling. However, as transportation costs increase it is more optimal to place inventory closer to customer locations, reducing overall transportation miles. However, as a distribution professional, it can be significantly more complex to manage multiple smaller warehouses rather than a single large facility.  Another key to managing the fuel-optimized supply chain is transportation...

From time to time I'm reading through the mails I get from my LinkedIn discussion group "Supply Chain Management Group ". I stumbled over a question, which made me very curious:  What is your two word definition of supply chain? For your convenience I list some of the answers here: - absolute certainty - real-time communication - demand matching - customer satisfaction - managed predictability - risk management - optimized flow - value add - realistic commitments - etc. I tend to add two more answers from my side - realtime monitoring - arviem services Realtime cargo monitoring does not solve all these ideas 100% itself. But realtime cargo monitoring could contribute substantially. Or to quote one of our clients: This is a no-brainer! Read about the mentioned discussion on LinkedIn yourself:   LinkedIn discussion

arviem's services and solution are presented at CEBIT at the Deutsche Telekom booth jointly with Hellmann worldwide logistics. Visit us at the Deutsche Telekom stand in hall 4, stand 26.

Just recently we received the following request from one of our clients: „Can you check and advise if any of our tracked boxes are on this vessel?“ What happened? On February 14, the 8’160 TEU Svendborg Maersk was battered by winds reaching 60 knots and waves reaching 10 meters resulting the collapse of container stacks on the vessel. 520 containers went overboard and several others got damaged. (see also www.seatrade-global.com ) By the way: One of the containers washed off the vessel is a huge shipping container with as many as 11 million cigarettes inside (- but police are warning any wreckers 'looking for free fags' to stay well away). The 520 lost containers could result for many companies in the abrupt break in their supply chain. The companies of the other thousands of containers are most likely affected by delays or product quality claims, as the vessel has to stop for re-stowage of collapsed container stacks and take ou...

Sochi, Russia (Reuters) - The House of Switzerland chalet has become one of the main attractions in Sochi's Olympic Park, offering takeaway food, a sit-down restaurant, and parties well into the night. But the venue's popularity has come at a price. Just eight days into the Games, the traditional Swiss kitchen ran out of one of its main dishes - raclette cheese. The hearty meal had become a best-seller in the house's takeaway area. "The demand was so high that after almost 10 days we ran out," said the House of Switzerland's head Chef Christian Zueger after making a plate of raclette from the final block remaining. "We put in another order but the delivery didn't really work.” New supplies of the cheese should have already arrived in Sochi as the caterers ordered a further 800 kg to be transported by truck from Switzerland to Russia through Ukraine as soon as they noticed the stocks dwindling. But the 20-ton truck carrying the cheese ...

To make one statement clear from beginning: The arviem service could not have prevented any of these cyber-attacks. However, the independent monitoring service could have detected unauthorized door openings long before. Also the mentioned plot "when entire containers began to disappear" could have been detected in real-time and responsible people been informed. Cargo monitoring could not only be used to prevent trafficking drugs - but also to prevent smuggling huge amount of money in containers from one country to another.  ************************** http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24539417 By Tom Bateman Reporter, Today programme The head of Europe's crime fighting agency has warned of the growing risk of organised crime groups using cyber-attacks to allow them to traffic drugs. The director of Europol, Rob Wainwright, says the internet is being used to facilitate the international drug trafficking business. His comments follow a...