Global shipping terminal operator and logistics company Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH) has introduced a new cargo security and asset monitoring service called StellarTrak, which includes devices affixed to containers as well as the communications to provide real-time or on-demand information about the status of shipments along the supply chain.
The new service, which is managed by HPH’s logistics and security services subsidiary LoadStar, was launched about six months ago although the official introduction was last month.
StellarTrak gives Loadstar’s customers a “service that gives them control of their supply chain [and] allows them to manage by exception,” says Neil Smith, LoadStar’s CEO. The communication’s technology relies on cellular and GPS networks. A customer can view the information on a computer and even a smart phone, he says.
The system was designed and engineered by LoadStar based on its experience as a terminal operator and its customers’ needs. The physical device has two form factors, which can be used separately or in combination depending on a customer’s needs, Smith tells TR2.
One form factor is a locking mechanism that goes through the hasp on the container and another onto the door of the container. StellarTrak can create an alert to say when a door has been opened when it shouldn’t be, and can also provide environmental sensing data to detect changes in light, humidity, temperature and shock vibration in containers, Smith says.
LoadStar says its new security and asset monitoring service is relatively low cost and doesn’t require any upfront investments from its customers. Instead, LoadStar provides the devices and charges its customers a fee for service, Smith says.
The focus on the design of the security devices is on the end user so that even a dockworker in China, who probably can’t speak or write English and is wearing gloves, can easily use and install them, Smith says.
The technology isn’t full proof and there is no one-size fits all solution but it also acts as a “strong deterrent” to a potential thief, Smith says. If a device stops reporting, “we’ll know the location and that maybe something is wrong,” he says.
Combined with the various partner relationships LoadStar maintains, including law enforcement, port authorities and others, such as truck dispatchers, concerns about a particular container can be addressed quickly, Smith says. “Put all the components together and you have a pretty good set of security layers.”
LoadStar thought that its initial customers would be those shipping high-risk, high-value products such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and electronics but it has found that customers shipping basic commodities such as agricultural products and even bottled water have used the service.
“That indicates to me the wider usage of the model and a willingness to incur the small cost of using it,” Smith says.
For some customers the cost of StellarTrak can be less than $20 per shipment, Smith says.
Smith says LoadStar’s focus with StellarTrak is on cargo owners and logistics companies. As the technology builds out, he expects that governments may show a greater interest in what it can do to better balance trade processing with security concerns.
HPH has been working with, and testing, different types of cargo security technologies for 10 years, including a partnership with Lockheed Martin’s [LMT] Savi Technologies business unit that mages asset monitoring tags for shipping containers.