Container Shipping

If you’re in the container shipping industry, you’ve likely heard about Hapag-Lloyd’s recent investment: fitting their entire dry container fleet with telematics technology. This is the first dry container tracking deployment of its scale that the world has ever seen. ORBCOMM’s new CT 1000 dry container tracking device is a critical component of the deployment, helping…

The theme for TPM 2023 was Picking Up the Pieces, and we feel it was an accurate one. While COVID is in the rearview mirror for the most part, container shipping remains in a state of flux as ports remain backlogged, spot rates continue to drop and retail demand remains low. It’s in trying times like…

When budgets are set each year, choosing what to invest money in can be divisive. Whether you own a fleet of 50 or 50,000 containers, seeing a clear return on investment is a must. Refrigerated container telematics has, for many, proven to pay dividends. The value goes beyond simple tracking, affecting maintenance efficiency, driving performance,…

When port delays occur, refrigerated containers—carrying temperature-sensitive cargo susceptible to spoilage—are hit the hardest. An unexpected influx of containers can result in fleets losing track of their assets’ locations or can interfere with cargo integrity, as some may not receive the power they require to maintain appropriate temperatures. To solve these problems, we’ve designed the…

The ongoing disruptions snarling global maritime container trade and supply chains have driven home the acute need for better visibility into the location and status of container cargo and equipment moving through the system. Nowhere is this more important than in the refrigerated container trades carrying vital supplies of perishable food, pharmaceuticals and medicines, including vaccines, across the world.   The recent logjam at the Chinese Port of Yantian hit reefer shipments hard, with major ocean carriers advising that a percentage of refrigerated cargoes will be diverted–in some cases…

As a global leader in industrial Internet of Things (IoT) solutions for supply chain assets, cargo and infrastructure, ORBCOMM welcomes the new IoT connectivity interface standards for monitoring refrigerated containers on-board vessels published December 18 by the Digital Container Shipping Association (DCSA). Remote visibility and control of refrigerated containers at sea has been a focal point for…

At the beginning of June, the Digital Container Shipping Association (DCSA) released a set of IoT standards for container connectivity that usher in the era of smart containers and greater visibility along the supply chain. This builds upon the track and trace standards established in January, and will lead the container sector to adopt the…

As we highlighted in two extensive ORBCOMM reports during the last quarter of 2019 – the Next Phase of IoT in Shipping Digitalization: Data Interoperability, Integration & Intelligence and Disrupting the Cold Chain: 5 Key Takeaways from Cool Logistics – work is now gathering pace within the global container shipping industry on the development of open standards…

The Digital Container Shipping Association (DCSA) has released its first standards for data flows – an important first step in the process of ending the fragmentation that is holding back the development of digital technologies in the industry. In an announcement at the beginning of September, the DCSA, which was only officially established in April…

Refrigerated containers spend a large portion of their in-transit time at sea, where managing them poses a series of challenges. Crews are often unable to complete regular checks because of heavy workloads, unfavorable sea and weather conditions and the size of the vessels themselves. Furthermore, traditional reefer telematics rely on cellular communications that lose connectivity…