{"id":171,"date":"2020-12-10T12:01:06","date_gmt":"2020-12-10T12:01:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.logistics.ie\/?p=171"},"modified":"2021-06-01T10:45:44","modified_gmt":"2021-06-01T09:45:44","slug":"ships-and-cargo-getting-smarter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.logistics.ie\/portal\/ships-and-cargo-getting-smarter\/","title":{"rendered":"Ships and Cargo are Getting Smarter"},"content":{"rendered":"

A glance at the objects around you at home or work will reveal objects brought from across the world, from the bagged salad in your fridge (Kenya), to the computer or smartphone upon which you\u2019re reading this article (Taiwan, China, the US), or the table upon which it rests (Sweden). The enormous volume of global trade that brings us products from all over the world has been made possible by a profound technological revolution occurring behind the scenes.<\/p>\n

Logistics experts talk of \u201clanded costs\u201d, the sum of all of the various costs associated with freight. There is also an environmental cost, of course, for example bringing vegetables from afar rather than from local farms. But the landed costs of many products have fallen such that it\u2019s usually cheaper to transport many items halfway around the world than to produce them locally.<\/p>\n

Much of this fall in costs comes from the efficiencies ushered in by containerisation which, since it was introduced in 1956, has had a greater effect on globalisation\u00a0than all the trade agreements signed in the past 50 years<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The largest container ships today, such as the\u00a0HMM Algeciras<\/a>,\u00a0carry up to 24,000 TEUs (a TEU is a 20ft equivalent unit \u2013 a standard 40ft container is two TEUs). A key question is how much bigger will container ships get?.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

If a ship or aircraft is so big and expensive that nobody can operate it (in terms of costs and system constraints) then its of little use. So while there have been remarkable achievements in speed and scale, today it is the communication technology that links systems together that has the greatest logistical impact.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The network is the unseen hero<\/h2>\n

The internet of things (IoT) refers to small, internet-connected sensors that can detect and transmit information. Network technology company Cisco extended this idea to the \u201cinternet of everything\u201d (IoE), in which the sensors talk not to a central hub but to each other, exchanging data and making decisions autonomously based on that data. The four components are data (how it is gathered and used), people (how they are connected), things (network-connected devices providing data for intelligent decision making) and process (delivering the right information to the right person or machine at the right time).<\/p>\n

Increasingly it is not just control processes that are growing in intelligence but\u00a0the ships and cargoes themselves. For example: by law, ships above a certain size are obliged to transmit updates on their position via Automatic Identification Systems (AIS). It is possible to\u00a0see this information online<\/a>, a real-time snapshot of global shipping.<\/p>\n

Connected ships perform better. For example, by taking smart routes around bad weather, and allowing remote monitoring of ships for safety.\u00a0Smart container technology\u00a0<\/a>can monitor temperature and humidity of containers for changes that could damage the contents, or to change the environment so as to, for example, prevent the spoiling of fruit in transit due to delay.<\/p>\n

Details concerning individual shipments are transmitted before the ship arrives at port, allowing customs authorities time to profile and sometimes pre-approve incoming cargo. To the same end,\u00a0eFreight initiatives\u00a0cut down the paperwork associated with freight: the International Air Transport Association (IATA) once estimated that there can be\u00a0up to 30 separate documents<\/a>\u00a0accompanying an air freight shipment.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Better data brings more automation<\/h2>\n

An improvement is the\u00a0\u201csingle window\u201d online portal\u00a0<\/a>approach to which all those involved have access. This is regarded as the key to making freight movement easier, giving those across the supply chain the data they need, meaning product deliveries can be sped up or slowed down so that cargoes arrive at the time and place they\u2019re needed \u2013 the \u201cgearbox approach\u201d. Why have a warehouse at the arrival end? Just deliver the product exactly when required, straight into waiting trucks.<\/p>\n

On arrival, container handling is done by automated cranes, which are cheaper and safer than human operators. Better cargo tracking means freight is traceable from setting off through to final destination. Less product is lost and damaged thanks to more accurate handling, which means lower incidental costs.<\/p>\n

Many warehouses now use automated pick-and-pack systems based on barcodes and RFID radio transmitting smart tags rather than human handlers. Once considered science fiction, robots in the warehouse are\u00a0becoming affordable, while warehouse staff are equipped with\u00a0augmented reality applications and smart glasses<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Technology improvements have also found uses in the trucking industry \u2013 and convoys of\u00a0wireless-linked, semi-autonomous, driverless trucks\u00a0(known as \u201cplatooning\u201d) are a possibility in the near future.<\/p>\n

So next time you receive the wrong delivery it\u2019s quite likely to be your fault (for ordering the wrong thing), and the company who sold the item will have the data trail to prove it. On the other hand, whether we need and can afford the vast array of goods that global logistics systems deliver cheaply and efficiently to our door \u2013 fresh fruits and flowers all year round, for example \u2013 is another conversation worth having.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

An earlier version of this article was published in the\u00a0The Conversation<\/a>\u00a0and that content is reproduced here under a Creative Commons license.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ships and cargo are getting smarter with more automation and better tracking reducing losses, damage and incidental costs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":292,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"yes","footnotes":"","tve_updated_post":"","tve_custom_css":"","tve_user_custom_css":"","tve_globals":{},"tcb2_ready":0,"tcb_editor_enabled":0,"tve_landing_page":"","_tve_header":"","_tve_footer":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[9,7,8,6,10],"class_list":["post-171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-shipping","tag-cargo","tag-container","tag-freight","tag-shipping","tag-smart-logistics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nShips and Cargo are Getting Smarter - Logistics Ireland<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ships and cargo are getting smarter with more automation and better tracking reducing losses, damage and incidental costs.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.logistics.ie\/portal\/ships-and-cargo-getting-smarter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ships and Cargo are Getting Smarter - 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