RFID for Shipping Containers - Security AND Efficiency

Filed in archive Implementation on April 6, 2005

Think that using RFID to track shipping containers is all about port security?

This short article in InformationWeek suggests that it's also about reducing costs and improving efficiencies for shipping companies:

"Currently, when cargo containers are unloaded from ships, workers must go to each container to log the container's identification number. The cargo containers are often stacked five high and six lanes wide throughout hundreds of acres of land. Ed DeNike, chief operating officer of SSA terminals at SSA Marine, which had $1.2 billion in annual revenue last year, says 10% to 20% of the container IDs aren't copied correctly, which causes the company to lose track of containers.

'We have two or three people working every day to find containers,' DeNike says. 'You need technology to help automate the process.'"