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IBM, Maersk Team Up on Ship Tracking

Posted on: Tuesday, 20 September 2005, 00:00 CDT

BOSTON -- Government cargo inspectors would be able to get real-time data about the contents and whereabouts of shipping vessels around the world under a new tracking service being introduced by International Business Machines Corp. and the Danish shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S.

The monitoring program involves putting a shoebox-sized wireless sensor inside individual cargo containers. The devices would relay data on the containers' location and condition - and whether they appear to have been tampered with - via satellite to a centralized system accessible by manufacturers, retailers and shipping companies in addition to government inspectors.

Currently, U.S. port inspectors can electronically access information about the contents of a cargo vessel, but it's generally limited to static data gathered when the ship left port, according to Patrick Jones, a spokesman for Customs and Border Protection, part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The IBM-Maersk project would be new, he said, in its ability to offer real-time information that could signify something suspicious to port inspectors. Any such clues could be vital, considering that nearly 9 million cargo containers arrive in U.S. seaports every year.

"If we were able to track the movement of the ship, that would improve security," he said. And "if there's technology out there that can tell us if a container's been tampered with, then let's see if we can we develop it and use it."

The technology, developed by IBM researchers, is due to be tested on Maersk ships beginning this fall. The companies want to be sure the tracking devices - which are bigger and more powerful than the passive radio-frequency identification chips being added to many companies' supply pallets - work in a real shipping environment. Water and metal can interfere with some wireless transmissions.

IBM executives acknowledged that the system would add costs, which they declined to specify, to the shipping process.

But they said the system should be valued by manufacturers and retailers that would be able to get clearer insight into the logistics of their inventories traveling the globe.

The benefit to government inspectors is an added bonus, said Derek Moore, an associate partner in the business consulting unit for Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM.

"You've got in a sense a happy marriage," he said. "The public interest is likely to demand much more stringent assurance that once a container has been closed, that it has not been tampered with. This technology offers a real hope of achieving that."

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

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