This blog is written by Niels Van den Berg, one of Cisco’s Digital Business Development Leaders who is evangelizing Cisco’s digitalization vision, strategy, and enabling technologies to make it all happen in our nation’s critical infrastructure. Niels will be speaking in a webinar on August 1st titled “Find Yourself in the Future of Transportation.” Here’s a sneak peek…
If you are reading this blog, there is about a 90% chance that you are.(me) You are reading it on a device that was in a shipping container. The chair you are sitting in and the clothes you are wearing are the same. In 2022 alone, world merchandise exports reached $24.9 trillion.(2).
Shipping is the backbone of world trade.
This isn’t exactly new: Ancient Egypt used ships for trade for over 6,000 years.(3)—But container shipping has revolutionized maritime trade. But while containers are standard sizes, they are handled very differently depending on whether they are carrying bananas or books.
A container for everything
Standardized shipping containers (measured in trade as 20-foot equivalent units, or TEUs) were introduced in the late 1950s. By 1997, container trade volumes were 51 million TEUs. By 2016, this had increased to 182 million TEUs.
Shanghai, the world’s busiest container port, moved 47.03 million TEUs in 2021.(4). Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, where I am, was the 10th busiest port in the world in 2021, handling 15.3 million TEUs. That’s almost 42,000 containers a day (and I’ll mention that number again because it’s the answer to everything).
Naturally, computerisation is key to the smooth operation of a port and the Port of Rotterdam recognises the role digitalisation plays in sustainability.(V).
Smarter shipping choices
A recent report from McKinsey predicted that the shipping industry is “at a point where digital transformation is needed to address a range of structural inefficiencies.”(6)
Clearly, data is at the heart of this innovation and Cisco is proud to be a partner of Container 42.(7) Project. This smart, continuously connected container has a variety of sensors that measure what it experiences as it travels around the world.
Smell during delivery
Some of these sensors include digital noses that detect potentially toxic gases.
Digital noses could help prevent illegal drug, weapon and human trafficking by detecting when and where containers are opened.
It also has vibration and motion sensors so it knows if it’s on a crane, if it’s being hit or dropped, if it’s on a train, truck or ship. Thanks to artificial intelligence (AI), it can even interpret individual loaded vessels, as it recognizes the vibration signature of the engine. By putting a profile on a container, you can know not only what’s in it and where it should go, but also how to handle it.
foresight
The Container 42 project is named after Douglas Adams’ comedy sci-fi series “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”, where the answer to the ultimate question about life, the universe, and everything is ’42’. Multiply that by 1,000 and you get 42,000 containers, the number of containers that pass through the Port of Rotterdam every day! Much like the Douglas Adams story, the entire project evolved from that starting point to looking at what question we were trying to answer.
Evolution of Container 42 Transport Project
We started out building smart containers, but as the project progressed we realized we needed a platform to store, share and interpret data, which has the potential to reduce container handling, improve efficiency and reduce the environmental impact of transportation.
The container itself can choose the optimal route to its destination based on the needs of the cargo inside. Bananas and books have different needs.
And with a reliable, stable, and secure platform, owners can always know where their containers are. Insurers can adjust their premiums to accurately reflect the risk. And customs can determine if a container has been disturbed, potentially expediting clearance.
This data can be used to optimise vessel routes to accommodate tides, currents and storms, and to dock at the optimal time for loading and unloading.
The bigger picture
That’s just a fraction of the estimated 30 billion devices.(8) By 2030, connected containers will enable faster, more efficient transport and reduce environmental impact.
And as connected devices generate more data, the jobs of the future will change, too. The Cisco Networking Academy offers free training for many of the jobs of the future.
Cisco was founded to move data packets around the world as safely and efficiently as possible. Now we’re working to help do the same in the physical world of transportation. Thanks to projects like Container 42, you’ll find yourself in a more efficient future.
Register for the Find yourself in the future shipping webinar
Thursday | August 1, 2024 | 9:30 AM New Delhi
Meet the speaker: Niels Van den Berg
As Director of Digital Business Development, Niels evangelizes Cisco’s digital vision, strategy, and enabling technologies and applies them to the nation’s critical infrastructure.
Find yourself in the future
Find yourself in the future is your compass to navigate the career path that resonates with your passion. Immerse yourself in the latest technology trends presented by Cisco experts through quarterly virtual broadcasts. Discover the industries that spark your passion. Attend our events, learn the skills, and take the leap to land your dream job.
sauce
(i) World Economic Forum Our economy relies on container shipping. This is what happens when containers get ‘stuck in the mud’.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/10/global-shortagof-shipping-containers/
(ii) UNCTAD, Statistical Handbook 2023, International Merchandise Trade https://hbs.unctad.org/international-merchandise-trade/
(iii) Royal Museum, Greenwich, Shipbuilding: The Early Vessels https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/shipbuilding-earliest-vessels
(iv) World Shipping Council, Top 50 Container Ports https://www.worldshipping.org/top-50-ports
(v) Port of Rotterdam, Digitalisation https://publications.portofrotterdam.com/8-steps-on-board/digitalisation
(vi) McKinsey & Company, Container Shipping: The Next 50 Years https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/industries/travel%20transport%20and%20logistics/our%20insights/how%20container%20shipping%20could%20reinvent%20itself%20for%20the%20digital%20age/container-shipping-the-next-50-years-103017.pdf
(vii) We are 42 https://weare42.io/
(viii) Welcome to Wired, the new global network. https://www.wired.com/sponsored/story/welcome-to-the-new-global-network/
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