Homegrown Chinese technology has been used for the first time to provide real-time monitoring of container shipments in the country's commercial hub, Shanghai. If the two- to three-month pilot program, supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Communications in China, is successful, it will help better fight terrorism, stowaways and food contamination in containers.
Initially, 10,000 containers will be sealed with a special e-tag, which can be re-used on the shipping line between Shanghai and Savannah in the US state of Georgia. The e-tag that uses radio frequency identification technology will show a container's status in the logistics chain, and send warnings if it is opened without authorization. If an e-tag shows a container has not been opened on the way, it will help a cargo owner save the time he has to spend for Customs and quarantine checks at ports.
US and European firms have been studying the technology, too, but "China is the first to mobilize resources such as ports, shipping companies, cargo owners and the Customs and put the technology into use on a commercial shipping line". The country's container throughput reached a record 100 million TEU (20-foot equivalent unit) last year. And Shanghai handled 26.15 million TEUs, second only to Singapore across the world.
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