How a smart connected container shows how to find yourself in the future of shipping

July 24, 2024

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This blog comes from Niels Van den Berg, one of Cisco’s Digital Business Development Leaders who evangelizes Cisco’s digitization vision, strategy, and supporting technologies to bring this all to life in national critical infrastructures. Niels presents on “Find yourself in the future of shipping” in our August 1 webinar. Here’s a taste…

If you’re reading this blog there’s approximately a 90 percent chance[i] you’re reading it on a device that has been in a shipping container. The same is true of the chair you’re sitting on and the clothes you’re wearing. Global merchandise exports in 2022 alone totaled US$24.9 trillion[ii].

Shipping is the backbone of global trade.

This is not exactly new—ancient Egypt used ships for trade as long as 6,000 years ago[iii]—but containerized shipping has revolutionized seaborne trade. However, while containers are standard sizes, whether they’re loaded with bananas or books makes a huge difference to how they need to be handled.

Containers for everything

Container 42 being moved by truck

The standardized shipping container (measured in the trade as twenty-foot equivalent units or TEUs) was introduced in the late 1950s. By 1997 container trade volume was 51 million TEUs. In 2016 that had grown to 182 million TEUs.

Shanghai, the world’s busiest container port, moved 47.03 million TEUs in 2021[iv]. Rotterdam, in the Netherlands where I am based, was the world’s tenth-busiest port in 2021, handling 15.3 million TEUs. That’s nearly 42,000 containers every single day (and a number I’ll come back to, because it is the answer to everything).

Unsurprisingly, computerization is key to the smooth operation of the port, and the Port of Rotterdam recognizes the role digitalization plays in sustainability[v].

A smarter shipping choice

A recent report from McKinsey predicts the shipping industry is “ripe for digital disruption to tackle a multitude of structural inefficiencies.”[vi]

Clearly, data is at the core of that disruption, and Cisco is proud to be a partner in the Container 42[vii] project. This smart, constantly connected container has a range of sensors that measure what the container experiences as it travels around the world.

Sniffing in shipping

Just a few of those sensors include a digital nose to detect any possible poisonous gasses.

The digital nose senses when and where the container has been opened, so it can help prevent the trafficking of illicit drugs, or weapons or people.

It also has vibration and movement sensors that can tell whether it is on a crane, getting bumped or dropped, or if it is on a train, truck or a ship. Thanks to artificial intelligence (AI) it can even interpret the individual ship that it is loaded on because it recognizes the vibration signature of the engines. You can put a profile on a container that not only tells you what’s in it and where it needs to go, but also how it should be handled.

Deep thought

The Container 42 project was named from the Douglas Adams comedy sci-fi series “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”, in which the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything was ‘42’. Multiply that by one thousand and that is the number of containers that move through the Port of Rotterdam every day, 42 thousand! Much like Douglas Adams’ narrative, the whole project has evolved from where it started, making us look at what the questions were that we were trying to answer.

Evolution of Container 42 shipping project

Container 42 lifted by machine in cargo bay

We started by building a smart container, but as the project evolved, we recognized a need for a platform for storing and sharing and interpreting the data. This has the potential to reduce the amount of handling for the container, improving efficiency and reducing the environmental impact of shipping.

The container itself will be able to choose its own optimal route to its destination, depending on the requirements of the cargo inside—those bananas and books have different needs.

And with a trusted, reliable, and secured platform, owners will always know where their container is. Insurance companies will be able to adapt premiums to accurately reflect risk. And customs will be able to see if the container has been interfered with to potentially expedite customs clearance.

The data can be used to optimize shipping routes for tides and currents and storms, and for docking at the optimal time for loading and unloading.

The bigger picture

As just a small number of the estimated 30 billion devices[viii] connected to the Internet by 2030, our connected containers will improve the speed, efficiency and environmental impact of shipping.

And as those connected devices generate more data, the jobs of the future will change too. Cisco Networking Academy provides free training for many of those jobs of the future.

Cisco was founded to move packets of data around the globe as securely and efficiently as possible. Now we’re working on helping to do the same thing in the physical world of shipping. Thanks to projects like Container 42 you’re about to find yourself in a more efficient future.

Register for the Find yourself in the future shipping webinar

Thursday | 1 August, 2024 | 9:30 am New Delhi

Meet our speaker: Niels Van den Berg

As the Leader of Digital Business Development, Niels evangelize Cisco’s Digitization vision, strategy, and supporting technology, bringing this to life in National Critical Infrastructures.

Find yourself in the future

The Find yourself in the future program is your compass to navigating a career path that resonates with your passions. Through our quarterly virtual broadcasts, immerse yourself in the latest technology trends presented by Cisco experts. Discover the industry that ignites your enthusiasm. Join our events, learn the technology, and take the leap towards landing your dream job.