Dr Volker Wissing, Germany’s Federal Minister for Digital and Transport, installs Hapag-Lloyd’s 700,000th tracking device
HAMBURG : Hapag-Lloyd is celebrating the installation of its 700,000th tracking device, an important moment on the company’s path to creating the world’s largest smart container fleet. On Monday, at the company’s headquarters in Hamburg, Germany’s Federal Minister of Digital and Transport, Dr Volker Wissing, personally installed the device on a container.
Emphasising the significance of the event, Wissing stated: “Digitalisation offers great opportunities for the transport industry. One sign of this is the progress made by Hapag-Lloyd in building an intelligent container fleet. Such advances not only benefit shipping, they strengthen Germany as a location for innovation and contribute to our vision of a better connected and more efficient transport sector.”
Hapag-Lloyd CEO Rolf Habben Jansen underscored the company’s mission, saying: “We are proud to be at the forefront of the digitalisation of container shipping. Our ‘Smart Container Fleet’ project is about transforming the industry and setting new standards for supply-chain transparency and customer service.”
Targeting a fully digital container fleet
Hapag-Lloyd is on course to becoming the world’s first container shipping line to equip its entire container fleet of 1.6 million dry and reefer containers with real-time tracking devices. Dry container monitoring will be a game-changer, as having permanently installed real-time tracking technology permanently installed on and gathering data from standard containers will enhance visibility and answer the crucial question: “Where is my container now?” The solar battery-powered tracking devices, equipped with internal sensors and GPS, will transmit data through the cell network in addition to recording shock events and ambient temperature. These devices are explosion-proof according to established standards ensuring safety for crews, cargo, and vessels.
The vast majority of Hapag-Lloyd’s container fleet will be smart by the beginning of 2024. At around the same time, Hapag-Lloyd is planning to launch a corresponding commercial product called “Live Position”.