container has always been a headache for peers. At the 2022 International Multimodal Operations Exhibition that opened yesterday, DB Schenker, smart container brands Traxens and Nexxiot held on-site discussions on the application prospects of smart containers and how they can support logistics security, and explored various application scenarios of smart containers in anti-war, drug control, anti-human trafficking and reducing logistics losses.
Intermodal Discussion site Photo source © Promedia Group
Malena Payeras Pérez, the Internet of Things product manager of DBT, said that the tracker placed in the container can provide international logistics safety and anti-theft protection from three aspects. First, the tracker embedded in the container is equipped with various sensors, and they can quickly detect abnormal activities in the container, such as abnormal opening of the box door. Secondly, the tracker sends out abnormal activity warnings in real time, and the logistics operator responds quickly to avoid further losses. What seems like a simple trilogy, what is the application effect in the actual operation scenario?
reporters interviewed Traxens from France and Nexxiot from Switzerland on the spot. They introduced how smart containers can show their magical powers in drug control, anti-human trafficking and anti-war, besides the anti-theft function. Cedric Rosemont, chief marketing officer of
anti-drug
Traxens, introduced the widespread application prospects of smart containers in future anti-drug activities. According to him, the current customs have only a 2% chance of random inspection of goods, and drug smugglers can easily carry drugs through centralized boxes. Compared with huge benefits, the cost of crime is minimal. Smart containers can monitor abnormal box doors in real time when they are opened, and customs can also conduct spot checks in a more targeted manner.
Rosemount and Traxens products Source © Promedia Group
Human Trafficking
Nexxiot's Chief Financial Officer Philipp Spoegler introduced that in addition to anti-theft and drug control, smart containers can also help the government effectively combat human trafficking. Human trafficking through containers is no longer news, but how can the infamous container population transport be strangled from the source? Spogler introduced that in addition to photosensitive probes, current technology can also realize carbon dioxide detection . By detecting the carbon dioxide concentration in the container, the tracker can directly warning the logistics operator or customs to check the live activities in the box. Therefore, the container is stopped before it is on the road.
Nexxiot Delegation and its products Source © Promedia Group
Save money
"One of our Swiss customers loses 20 million euros every year due to damage to the goods in the container." Spogler introduced this. Due to improper operations by the station or operator, customers often have to bear huge economic losses. Can the application of smart containers reduce this part of the loss? Yes, and can "reduce losses by 20%-25%.
Spogler also elaborated on how to use abnormal data monitoring to reduce the losses of logistics companies. Every time the container is subject to abnormal operation, such as falling or dumping, the container equipped with a smart tracker can transmit the abnormal operation data in real time. If abnormal data regularity occurs, the operator can conduct targeted investigations to clarify which station will frequently cause abnormal operations, change operational strategies, and improve freight processes to reduce losses. "Through investigation, our customers reduce losses by 20%-25%"
anti-war?
During his conversation with Spograd, he also talked about the situation where smart containers can even be applied to anti-war situations. Through real-time detection of centralized boxes and big data analysis of Shock data, it can be effectively speculated whether the shipment has been abnormally handled at a fixed station or node, such as smuggling of sanctioned Russian cargo. This is to curb the smuggling of illegal sanctioned war goods. But there are currently no specific actual cases for reference in this idea.
Is the future promising or a fantasy?
smart tracker seems to be widely used in the Internet of Things, but what difficulties have you encountered in the actual operation? Malena Payeras Pérez, product manager of IoT at DBT, mentioned that the most important issue at this stage is to popularize the application of smart trackers in concentrated boxes, and a very important factor is price. How to promote smart trackers with more reasonable prices is also a concern for many logistics practitioners. If a large number of trackers are not built into a huge Internet of Things, there will be no way to talk about the monitoring of big data and the application scenarios described above.
As Philipp Spoegler, chief financial officer of Nexxiot, said when referring to anti-war applications, most containers of illegal goods subject to war sanctions do not have smart trackers installed. Therefore, the application of smart trackers in anti-war scenarios is minimal. How to accelerate the popularization of intelligent trackers to build a larger Internet of Things and turn the fantasy into a promising application in the future will be a topic of close relationship between all logistics practitioners in the future.
