Smart Containers – How they are helping in overseas auto transport

Companies today are under great pressure to remove disruptions from their supply chain. Bad weather, labor disputes, shortages, defective materials and transportation issues may have a devastating effect on a company’s bottom-line. Having complete visibility in a company’s supply chain is certainly is essential.

Whenever we speak about track trace in container shipping, we typically look at various aggregated data based on calculating transit times, vessels satellite locations, and port berthing schedules. It’s now even harder for shipments requiring temperature control, as there is no means for anyone to monitor in realtime a containers exact locations on a vessel, temperature and humidity levels etc until now.

Meet CMA CGM Bougainville. CMA CGM Bougainville, a 18,000 TEU vessel, is among a kind. It’s the initial container ship on the planet to be built with a fresh technology turning its payload of containers into “smart connected objects.” The shipboard system because it has been dubbed is produced by TRAXENS, a Marseille based start-up that CMA CGM started investing in 2015.

The shipboard system collects real-time data through the entire container’s transport whether on land or at sea, adding considerable value to the shipping line and to its customers, insurers, and customs. A wide variety of data from each container can be gathered and transmitted to the CMA CGM headquarter: location, temperature, humidity level, vibrations, impacts, attempted burglary, customs clearance status and more. The devices provide even greater added value in the refrigerated transport of perishable goods. They can remotely control and adjust the temperature of refrigerated containers and enables resource optimization for routine inspections. With an increase of than 12 million containers transported by CMA CGM it indicates that a huge amount of information is likely to be collected and analyzed with the goal of improving the service provided to the end customers.

With this specific technology being implemented, CMA CGM has positioned itself as a forerunner in the field of Big Data as placed on transport and provides clients with unique solutions for monitoring and collecting information in real-time, anywhere in the world. CMA CGM and TRAXENS try to promote this technology being an international standard on the planet of shipping.

The CMA CGM Bougainville, the largest container ship under French flag, came into service from the beginning of September.  Its 470 vessels call significantly more than 400 ports on the planet, on all 5 continents. In 2014, they carried 12.2 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units). CMA CGM has grown continuously, and has been constantly innovating to offer its clients new sea, land and logistics solutions. With a presence in 160 countries, through its 655 agencies network, the Group employs 22,000 people worldwide, including 2,400 in its headquarter in Marseilles.