Page 30 - Sphere No.9 (Sep 2003)

SPHERE
1228
P O R T S
After the container has been packed and before it enters the contain-
er terminal, authorised personnel affix a sensor system, making the
container “smart and secure”.The Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag
contains automatic identification technologies and sensor-related intrusion-
detection systems that dramatically improve the ability to track, locate and
detect the integrity of shipments in real-time.
2
there have been obvious and potentially
dangerous security gaps – until now.
The SCST has recently signed a part-
nership agreement with the International
Standards Organisation (ISO) to acceler-
ate the standards-development process
and ensure that the industry-government
coalition implements a defined, cohesive
and practical set of criteria.
The participation of the ISO is
important because it responds to earlier
calls by the World Shipping Council to
ensure a workable radio wave network
as well as communications security.
While the ISO is responsible for
defining the standards of the technology,
the foundations of the Smart and Secure
Tradelanes have already been estab-
lished, tested and proven by the US
Department of Defense.
The application of sensors and
automated tracking systems to con-
tainerised cargo came about after the
US military’s supply chain became
hopelessly tangled during the first Gulf
War. Soldiers were eating breakfast three
times a day after the containers of lunch
and dinner meals went missing.This was
a minor inconvenience, but planners
realised the potential danger if ammuni-
tion were to get lost in a mountain of
metal containers.
Today, the US military uses sensor
systems and radio tracking on all crucial
shipments. During the second Gulf War,
containers were tracked and kept secure
while the data remained confidential.
The availability of an already devel-
oped secure method to tighten control
over supply chains serves as a useful
model for the shipping industry.
P IVOTAL ROLE FOR P ORTS
HPH has installed the Radio Frequency
Identification (RFID) reader equipment
in several facilities – Hongkong
International Terminals (HIT), Port of
Felixstowe (PFL) and Europe Container
Terminals (ECT) – and can bring new
ports on line in a matter of weeks. In
due course, all HPH container ports will
deploy the SST technology.
When the container enters the HPH
facility by truck or barge, a handheld
RFID reader is used to scan the sensor
systems. Several dozen readers through-
out the marshalling yard watch over
stored containers while fixed readers
attached to quay cranes capture move-
ment on and off container vessels.
The first wave of “smart and secure”
ocean containers was shipped in
December 2002.
Among these shipments were ten con-
tainer loads of store merchandise loaded by
HIT for a major US-based retailer. (HPH
handles about 50% of the 17,000 contain-
ers that enter US seaports each day.)
The system
provides each
container with the
equivalent of its own
electronic dead bolt
and burglar alarm