The Internet of Things (IoT) has shown its importance in many industries. One of its biggest impacts has been in transportation. Learn how IoT is disrupting logistics with industry leader Roambee.
Making international shipping faster and more secure has never been so important (or even possible), as container prices have skyrocketed, but Internet of Things (IoT) solutions provide a huge opportunity.
According to a 2021 report from the World Shipping Council, with containers scarce and ports suffering from congestion, shippers, freight forwarders, and importers were charged increasingly higher demurrage and detention fees. The primary industry trade association representing the international liner shipping industry reported that the average demurrage and detention charge at the world’s 20 biggest ports doubled between 2020 and 2021, reaching $666 per container. Moreover, $20 million in revenue was lost due to empty miles last year.
Implementing IoT in transportation helps businesses, granting them more control over their fleet operations. Companies can use their time more efficiently while saving money and devoting more time to manage their business, choosing the best possible route, providing real-time updates to drivers to help them avoid congestion, reducing fuel consumption, and increasing control over fleet operations.
The trend’s numbers are compelling: the transportation industry is the segment with the second-largest investment in IoT with more than $78 billion per year, according to IDC.
‘Adding IoT to your logistics “lights it up”, providing visibility on aspects of your supply chain which were previously opaque. Since IoT operates in real-time, it gives you much greater control over your cargo, allowing you to take action to rescue shipments at risk (because of their condition or due to security threats), instead of learning about them after the fact,’ says Scott Hurley, Roambee’s VP of Product Marketing and Strategy, adding that ‘IoT-sensor driven visibility is more accurate, granular, and timely than other visibility options, especially for multimodal shipments with multiple hand-off.’
Emerging supply-chain technology is seen as a major source of competitive advantage. According to Gartner’s Supply Chain Technology, User Wants and Needs Survey, 50% of global product-centric enterprises will have invested in real-time transportation visibility platforms by 2023.
‘IoT can validate that sensitive or critical shipments such as vaccines, pharmaceuticals, meats, dairy, alcohol, etc., were within acceptable condition thresholds throughout end-to-end shipment journeys and were not stolen or tampered with, thereby saving lives,’ says Hurley.
Roambee’s team explained that using IoT in logistics requires various technologies. First are sensors to monitor and capture relevant information about the cargo and its environment. Commonly used sensors include temperature and humidity sensors for cold chain and spoilage monitoring, shock and tilt sensors for damage monitoring, and ambient light and tamper sensors for security monitoring.
The second technology is connectivity. This may include Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and Lo-Ra WAN connectivity to connect smaller beacons to gateway devices, GPS for capturing accurate location, mobile (GSM, LTE, and 4G/5G narrow-band technologies), Wi-Fi, and satellite connectivity for direct-to-cloud real-time connectivity. The third technology is a platform to ingest IoT inputs, analyze them in their environment (from additional data streams), and generate actionable signals to inform decision making and take better actions.
IoT benefits for logistics
IoT can also help the transportation industry become more sustainable. A study of 100 global transportation companies conducted by Inmarsat showed that 44 percent of them prioritized environmental monitoring and 65 percent expected to be more sustainable in the future due to IoT implementation.
Truly global connectivity has yet to be achieved, as mobile technologies do not have universal coverage, and satellite-based communications remain too costly for widespread adoption and require clear skies to work. Thus, the cost of full-featured IoT devices (real-time, cloud-connected devices, with location and condition monitoring) is still too high for one-time use.
‘Returning and re-using IoT devices requires additional steps that many potential users do not want to add to their process, including the retrieval of devices at destinations and coordination for returning them to origin or other operations centers. One-time use devices, regardless of cost, may generate large volumes of technology waste,’ explains Hurley, adding that ‘despite these challenges, IoT sensor-driven logistics visibility is here to stay and will only grow as these challenges are addressed.’
In logistics, the trend has already been developing for several years: fleet owners can follow vehicles in real-time and mail carriers can track every package. But the future is even huge. Especially since the emergence of low-cost alternatives to Apple AirTag such as Samsung’s SmartTag, Tile Pro, Cube Pro, Tile Mate, and Chipolo ONE.
In Aerodoc, we import and export high added-value goods every day, and these technologies allow us to make informed decisions about merchandise availability – and bring peace of mind to our customers. If you need to import high-value-added goods to destinations where you do not have full control over the shipment, consult us. Our team of specialists will guide you step-by-step to ensure safe travel to destinations… with real-time tracking.
