According to Eurostat data, 824 million tons of goods were transhipped in European ports only in the first quarter of 2021. For more than 10 years now, a significant increase in the volume of sea trade has been observed, which began to decline at the end of 2019, along with the development of the pandemic in China.
After the global lockdown and the introduced restrictions, the sector is slowly returning to its previous state, and the demand for sea container transport is starting to grow.
Products Under Control
Every day, refrigerated transport poses challenges for entrepreneurs. It’s absolutely crucial for the business to overcome them. Many manufactured goods require specific parameters in which they should be stored and transported. It is not only about temperature, but also about the right level of humidity. Goods requiring special conditions are primarily:
- food products,
- medical supplies and medicines,
- cosmetics,
- chemical products,
- electronics,
- building materials.
As a result of fluctuations and exceeding the minimum or maximum temperature during transport, these goods may change their properties and become completely unfit for consumption or further use by consumers.
The Right Conditions Do Not Have to Be a Challenge
Maintaining the high quality of transported products is one of the most important challenges for the entire logistics sector.
In sea transport, for the transport of goods requiring controlled temperature and humidity, specialized reefers are used, which are intended above all for FCL (Full Container-Load) shipments. They have electric aggregates built into the rear wall that regulate the temperature inside the container, and during transport they are attached to the ship’s installation.
When transporting products in reefer containers, in addition to the temperature, we can also set the appropriate humidity and ventilation.
The Use of Reefers Is Not Enough
In order to ensure the products’ safety, they should be equipped with temperature and humidity monitoring systems.
For years, the largest players in the logistics industry have been using modern solutions that monitor parameters during sea transport of goods. For this purpose, special NFC loggers are used, i.e. small devices, the size of a credit card, that automatically measure environmental conditions. In addition to measurements, the system sends notifications to the manager in the event of anomalies and undesirable changes in conditions.
Additionally, the logger’s casing is made of polycarbonate, which makes it very durable and resistant to mechanical damage that may occur during transport.
It’s Easy!
Partners from the sector appreciate the loggers primarily for their convenience and ease of use. It is enough for the sender and the recipient to have a mobile phone with the NFC function, which has been available in virtually all smartphones for several years.
The system is used in the most important and farthest container transports. Such solutions are used, among others, by DHL Global Forwarding. The DHL SmartSensor team in cooperation with us has developed its own system that performs regular measurements to an accuracy of ±0.2°C over a range of 0 to 30°C while traveling.
NFC loggers allow you to create new standards at the international level, without the need to change procedures. In addition, thanks to the speed and flexibility of the solution, the time of checking the measurement history is shorter, and thus also saves costs.