With the western world increasingly focused on eating and living more healthily, the demand for the international delivery of both food and pharmaceutical products has never been greater. The range of goods being transported, from fresh tropical fruit to life-saving drugs, now has a truly global supply chain.
Transporting goods over long distances is always going to be a mammoth task in terms of logistics, security, and control, but with temperature-controlled products comes the added complication of maintaining strictly controlled environments within the containers.
The integrity and the efficient movement of these temperature-sensitive products has never been more vital to the transportation stakeholders, suppliers, and retailers. Such products can be both high in value and extremely delicate and managing the cold chain has become a critical part of everyday global operations.
Peter Chisholm, chief executive officer of Satamatics, and his 20-strong design team have been working with customers and partners across North and South America to see how the company's proven track record in all-terrain satellite tracking and monitoring could be used to help the cold chain logistics and road haulage industries.
Several challenges were identified across the market, and it became clear that two key areas could be addressed though improved technology:
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Reducing cost and complexity.
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Providing constant, reliable communications, monitoring and tracking systems across the isolated and sometimes hostile terrain covered by reefer units.
A number of products on the market offer refrigerated asset monitoring via cellular or terrestrial networks. Most of them can provide a combination of statistics and alerts. However, with so many different parameters to monitor, remote refrigerated control and monitoring has traditionally been rather expensive and technologically complicated, putting off many potential users from adopting it. One of the first challenges Satamatics addressed was to cut the complexity, thereby decreasing costs.
Over a nine-month period of development and tests, the in-house team stripped the current systems back to their foundations. They managed to simplify the design and greatly reduce the multiple failure points in the communication of critical refrigeration information.
The result: The Reefermatics system became the first satellite modem of its kind in the industry to run the refrigerated systems' microprocessors protocol in its firmware, according to Satamatics. This improves reliability and eliminates many issues previously experienced, as well as diminishing the equipment cost. The development team created a reliable, cost-effective system for less than the typical cost of cellular-based systems on the market, while offering vastly improved geographical coverage.
The new system can remotely start and control refrigerated systems, which means the cargo never needs to be compromised by driver errors. Any job always has room for human error, and mistakes can include entering the wrong temperature setting or forgetting to reset after changing loads. Oversights like these can be costly, resulting in an entire load being spoiled, as well as damaged relationships with the customer.
Using a remote monitoring system means the transport company — or even the end customer — can keep an eye on the status of the cargo, and make adjustments to the load and temperature from their desk if necessary. This technology can also make it easier to assign liability in insurance claims, if and when shipments are spoiled.
Another main benefit Satamatics offers is its experience and capabilities in monitoring and tracking goods anywhere in the world, even the most remote and hostile terrain. Current systems struggle with units in sea or inland water transit or in sparsely populated areas such as desert routes where cellular coverage has large gaps, which leave refers unmonitored for hours at a time. Operating over the Inmarsat D+ satellite network, Satamatics provides uninterrupted, always-on, global coverage. The new system lets transport companies provide complete real-time visibility without relying on cellular/terrestrial tracking systems or methods.
It is also important that the security of the goods and transport personnel is maintained. This has been achieved by allowing two-way communication between the head office and driver, as well as tracking and monitoring of the reefer's location 24/7. The driver is equipped with a panic button in case of emergency. The head office can also be made aware if any unexpected stops are made, if the cargo doors are opened during transit, or if the reefer is unhooked from the rig at any point.
Satamatics has more than 100,000 active units on its D+ network and manages more than two million messages per day, with further enhancements planned in the coming months. The Internet-based delivery system means data retrieval is easy and efficient with no need for a dedicated software program to maintain, and none of the warehousing costs associated with data storage requirements.
Brian Hester, president and chief operating officer of Satamatics, said, “Up until now, remote refrigerated control and monitoring has been technologically complicated, requiring several microprocessors to communicate between the onboard microprocessor that runs the refrigeration system, and then sending the resulting data through various satellite or terrestrial communication modems. Our goal was to reduce the multiple failure points in the communication of this critical refrigeration information. In doing so, we have created a highly reliable cost-effective system for less than the cost of cellular-based systems.”
Headquartered in the United Kingdom with offices in the United States, Satamatics' global services provide seamless coverage worldwide, and include secure access to the company's modern network of satellite gateways and data handling centers. Access www.satamatics.com for further information.
Satamatics integrates with Carrier
Satamatics Inc, a wholly owned subsidiary of Satamatics Global, has entered into an agreement with the Carrier Transicold Division of Carrier Corp. Satamatics provides tracking and monitoring capabilities to the logistics and shipping industries globally using the Inmarsat D+ satellite-based packet data network. Carrier Transicold supplies truck, trailer, container, and rail refrigeration systems to the logistics and shipping industries.
The Satatmatics refrigerated tracking system provides information on a refrigerated trailer's status, location, temperature set point, fuel levels, battery, and history using a financially secure, advanced satellite network: Inmarsat. This system also can remotely start the refrigerated system. Cold chain logistic companies use this information to provide reliable, protected services to shippers of perishable commodities. The arrangement with Carrier allows Satamatics to use its global satellite-based tracking and monitoring technology to extract and transmit data remotely to end-users from truck, trailer, and rail equipment using Carrier's refrigerated systems.
Satamatics' SAT-201 is the first satellite modem to run Carrier's new refrigerated system third-party communications protocol in its firmware.
