| Written by Dr. Urban Siller
The combining element between McLean and Berners-Lee is economic globalization: The container is the physical and the internet the digital catalyst of today’s global production footprint.
Both inventions have more in common than are publicly known, e.g., a slow start and a sudden, unexpected trigger that brought the breakthrough for both technologies.
The case of the container started with McLean’s constant search for cost reductions, which led to the shipment of truck trailers across the ocean instead of general cargo. While this approach failed the next step – a steel box holding general cargo introduced in 1956 – didn’t take off as expected due to traditionalists in ports and a lack of standardization. The Vietnam war and its logistical challenges for the US military brought the breakthrough for the sea container as we know it today back in the year 1967. More than 10 years after its invention by McLean.
Learn how automated refrigerated reefer monitoring results in fewer claims.
Just two years after the container had started to forever change global transportation, the predecessor of the internet—the Arpanet—was launched in 1969. It took 20 years for the Arpanet to become the WWW and another four years for the graphical web browser “Mosaic” to be launched as a free download. Mosaic became the killer application for the WWW, enabling the commercial use of the technology and its global breakthrough.
More than 60 years after the invention of the sea container and the predecessor of the WWW, both technologies rule the world. Both technologies are valued as equally disruptive for mankind as Johannes Gutenberg's invention of the letterpress in the 15th century.
Emerging Smart Container Technology
Interestingly enough, in the year 2021, the container and the WWW are not directly linked to each other via technology. The container holds physical cargo, while the WWW is the backbone for all information exchange around container transportation. The link between physical containers and global IT systems managing container transportation are choke points like container terminals where every container's Serial Shipment Container Code (SSCC) is read via optical systems.
Many logistic experts have a dream: They dream of a SmartContainer that can constantly report its identity, location and well being along the global Supply Chain. Not just in container terminals but everywhere and anytime on this planet (further reading: Reefer Operations - How to optimize efficiency and safety).
The basic idea behind this concept is a physical container with a battery-powered communication device outlasting the typical life span of a container that is connected to a digital twin of the container that manages the transportation route. The digital twin can react to unpredictability by accessing global data lakes and streams to make autonomous decisions based on mathematical modelling, providing the physical container with modified transport instructions.
Such a SmartContainer could get ordered and shipped via the WWW just like a parcel. The cargo owner provides the place of departure and destination and defines additional attributes like desired service level and expected Time of Arrival (ToA). The digital twin would manage everything else without any human interaction: Container tracking, intermodal transportation, customs clearance, billing, bypassing bottlenecks to warrant ToA, and much more.
Just like the WWW relies on the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) to safely send information in packages through the internet, the global Supply Chain could rely on SmartContainers to autonomously forward cargo around the world on time in standardized boxes. Human beings are required to maintain the infrastructure of the global SmartContainer Supply Chain but no longer manage physical transportation.
With cloud computing, blockchain technology, the WWW, new mobile telecommunication standards like 5G, much-improved battery technology, ultra-low-power electronics, and, last but not least, innovative high-tech companies, it is only a question of time before SmartContainers rule the world.
FAQ
Stuff That Speaks: How IoT Lets Us Communicate With Objects
The concept itself is not so young; it started in the early 1980s with a modified Coca-Cola vending machine at Carnegie Mellon University that could report its inventory and indicate whether the drinks were cold.
However, it was not until advances in wireless communication in the late 1990s and early 2000s that the technology took off.
Today, IoT is found almost everywhere. In smart homes, devices such as thermostats, lights and security systems can be controlled remotely, increasing comfort and energy efficiency at the same time. In healthcare, wearable devices monitor patients' vital signs in real-time, providing valuable data to healthcare providers. Smart cities control traffic flow, waste disposal and energy consumption using data obtained through IoT, which significantly improves their sustainability.
The industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) optimizes manufacturing processes and operations through predictive maintenance and data-based decision-making. It also reduces downtime and increases productivity.
The technology continues to grow exponentially. Thanks to their speed and reliability, the expansion of 5G networks enables even more demanding applications. Integrating artificial intelligence (AI) enables more extensive data analysis and more intelligent decision-making processes. Pursuing the most comprehensive sustainability possible will also drive the development of solutions intended to minimize resource consumption and, thus, environmental impact.
Since its early days, the Internet has developed from a niche concept into a cornerstone of modern technology. Our daily life is hardly imaginable without it. The potential for innovation for a more connected and efficient world seems limitless.
Learn how real-time reefer information impacts safety and productivity in container terminals
For shipping companies, SmartContainers will increase asset utilization, decrease the number of lost containers, lower demurrage costs, and provide many more operational benefits.
Merging McLean’s and Berners-Lee’s inventions is going to lead to a better world with a much more resilient Supply Chain and high terminal optimisation that uses less of the world’s scarce resources, eliminates waste, and provides better services at the same time.
Interested in learning about the Cold Chain, Reefer Management and refrigerated containers?
Discover the basics of Cold Chain logistics and download our free eBook "Inside The Box: Cold Chain and Reefer Management".
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Delve deeper into one of our core topics: Refrigerated containers
Note: This article was updated on the 21st of October 2024
Author
Dr. Urban Siller, CEO
Urban Siller is the CEO of IDENTEC SOLUTIONS, holding a PhD in Mechanical Engineering and a Master in Business Administration. Urban managed companies in the Supply Chain, Medical Device and Industrial Automation sectors for more than 25 years. His passion is to design innovative products & solutions that bring measurable benefits to customers. What makes his day is to experience how customers are using 'his' products & solutions, already thinking about new ways to serve them even better.
