A shipper might request GPS reefer tracking. The shipper’s carrier can then add the sensor and dispatch the reefer for loading. One ORBCOMM carrier user offers customers a login that allows both the carrier and the customer to track the reefers in real time and get alarms if any occur.
Maersk Steps Forward
have invested in a cloud-based container monitoring system from Traxens that will include 4.5 million containers, representing nearly a quarter of the world’s ocean vessel containers. The company will retrofit existing containers with devices containing GPS and sensors that will relay data via cellular signals and their own proprietary mesh network.
Once the smart containers are in place, customers will access data through smartphones, Web browsers, ERP and transportation management systems (TMS). The data will include GPS coordinates, temperature, vibration, shocks, door openings, movement, internal temperature, humidity and air pressure.
In 2015, Maersk Line finished the rollout of sensors on all 270,000 of its reefer containers. Maersk Line began the project in 2010. The team spent two years developing the hardware and software, says Catja Rasmussen, Maersk Line head of remote container management (RCM). The Maersk reefers went “live” in May 2015. The company uses Ericsson satellite signals for monitoring vessels at sea, and AT&T cellular signals and a GSM (global system for monitoring communication), for tracking containers over land. A 3G SIM card allows remote monitoring of atmospheric conditions and power status. Maersk Line initially focused on reducing its operating costs from the new technology that, through near-real-time data visibility, contributes to optimized fleet operations, Rasmussen says. The new technology also offers the ability to remotely control a container’s temperature. In a 15-week test period, the company intervened in 180 instances in which they adjusted temperatures and most likely prevented product damage. Another important feature is the ability to calculate the expected state of the empty export reefers. Empty export reefers require a service check before being returned to a customer. Before adding remote monitoring, this service check could take as long as six hours, as the reefers in some cases would need to cool down before they could be checked.
Get Into the Cloud Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and the CMA CGM Group
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