Keeping track of the location of these containers is a never-ending concern for senders and receivers alike.

But in the absence of containers that automatically announce their position, the shipping industry still relies on conventional artificial or semi-artificial tracking methods. This makes it difficult to control cargo status during physical distribution, and shippers often have to extend promised delivery times to avoid violating agreements. All this adds to logistics costs.

Unified International Standards are essential.

The solution is increased transparency in container logistics, meaning that information is available for transmission to a network platform automatically when containers arrive at a key node in the conveying chain, such as a warehouse, port or deconsolidation point. Shippers and other personnel can then receive clear, reliable information on the location of containers using an Internet application.

Location reporting

Cargo shipment tags

Making transport more transparent, efficient and safe
by Qifan Bao

Growth in international freight volumes directly reflects the emergence of a truly global economy, and its safe to say that containerized shipping has become the most important element in the modernization of the transport sector. At any given time, there are some 40000 large cargo ships plying the worlds waterways, not to mention countless smaller merchant craft, all pulling in and out of ports, loading, unloading, changing out crews and cargos, and travelling from one location to the next.
April 2010

Modern information technology provides an effective way to achieve this transparency. An Internet-based network is created to cover containers, with the help of RFID (radio frequency identification), wireless data communication and other technologies. Containers are able to actively inform the network of their location, while shippers take the initiative to perceive containers. Maritime transport is an important commercial activity across any number of countries. This global nature of the industry makes unified International Standards for RFID applications in container transport absolutely essential. A new standard is being developed to improve transparency and efficiency in the freight container transportation process. The future International Standard (ISO 18186, Freight containers RFID Cargo shipment tag) will ultimately benefit many stakeholders, including forwarders, insurance companies and carriers, but shippers will likely see the greatest advantages. Access to real-time information on the precise location of shipments will enable shippers to adjust production schedules and maximize return on capital employed.
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Transparency and efficiency

ISO technical committee ISO/TC 104, Freight containers, subcommittee SC 4, Identification and communication, is devoted to developing standards for automatic identification, interconnection and information sharing, as well as intelligent management of freight containers. The scope of the subcommittee includes:

ISO/TS 10891:2009, Freight con-

tainers RFID Licence plate tag, which enables electronic information transfer from containers to automatic processing systems. This optimizes the efficiency of equipment control systems and assists in container security initiatives.

Visual marks (location, encoding,

design and size)

Identification of freight containers

(identity codes and marks)

Automatic container identification

Keeping track of the location of these containers is a never-ending concern.

The future ISO 18186 will complement the framework of standards developed by ISO/TC 104/SC 4. It will describe how transparency and efficiency in freight container logistics can be improved using RFID cargo shipment tags and Internetbased software. The cargo shipment tag system records container transportation processes and enables online tracking by security authorities. The RFID cargo shipment tag system would be separate from other container security and identification RFID frameworks, such as the container license plate tags described in ISO 10374:1991, Freight containers Automatic identification, and ISO 10891:2009, Freight

containers Radio frequency identification (RFID) Licence plate tag, and the ISO 18185 series on electronic seals. The RFID cargo shipment tag defined in this standard can be used separately or with e-seals and license plate tags. Related International Standards are expected to promote RFID applications for freight container transportation. They are also envisaged to help users select products that make container logistics more transparent, efficient and safe.

systems (identification messages and related communication) (definitions, data elements, codes and qualifiers).

About the author

Qifan Bao, a Professional Senior Engineer and Vice President of Shanghai International Port (Group) Co. Ltd, is project leader of ISO 18186, Freight container RFID Cargo shipment tag. He has led several demonstrations of RFID in international container pilot projects, including the China-USA e-tag pilot sailing between Shanghai and Savannah, Georgia, and a China-Canada pilot for food defence.

Other container communications

The future ISO 18186 is being developed by working group WG 2, AEI for containers and container related equipment, within SC 4. The working group has published some important standards regarding automatic equipment identification for containers and related equipment:

The ISO 18185 series of standards

for freight containers electronic seals which aim to enhance cargo security in container transportation

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