Hapag-Lloyd will track containers 24/7 with ‘Live Position’

Scoop

Hapag-Lloyd has introduced a product that allows containers to be tracked on their journey ‘from door to door’, called ‘Live Position’. The German container shipping company says it is the world’s first shipping company to use IoT technology on this scale in logistics.

Paul Jumelet
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April 30, 2024 12:42

Danish shipping expert Lars Jensen agrees on Linkedin that this claim is correct and that it represents a breakthrough. ‘Live tracking of containers takes the next step,’ says the expert: it has been common to install this type of tracking equipment on reefer containers for some time, but not yet on regular ‘dry’ sea containers. Jensen says he has no doubt that shippers will eventually require continuous tracking of containers in this way as standard from all container shipping companies.

Blind spots

Hapag-Lloyd reports that the necessary tracking technology has already been installed on two-thirds of its container fleet. The installation of the equipment on the other containers is still in progress and is expected to be completed during the summer. According to Hapag-Lloyd COO Maximilian Rothkopf, the deployment of these ‘smart containers’ now ‘closes the blind spots of global logistics, enabling real-time decision-making and risk mitigation for our customers, while also allowing us to manage our container fleet more efficiently. ‘.

Henrik Schilling, head of Global Commercial Development at the shipping company, reports that the pilot phase with the tracking equipment went well and that work is now underway to ‘feed customers’ operational systems with tracking data’. Customers can search the system for a specific container and by booking number and cargo lot. According to Schilling, the addition of the ‘Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) Prediction’ promises to be the next ‘milestone’.