Intermodal Europe 2019 to showcase the best of innovation and technology in the container industry

The world of shipping and freight is getting bigger and bigger but thanks to all the technological advances and digitalisation, it is also bringing all players in the industry closer than ever before..

However, meeting people face to face, sharing issues of mutual interest and benefit, thrashing out common problems and finding solutions has a special flavour and charm to it..

Not to mention the experience you gain out of meeting experienced people..

Intermodal Europe 2019 which is to be held between the 5th and 7th of November at Hamburg Messe, promises to bring out the best in terms of its offering to the industry..

Some of the interesting topics presented include below

How Digitalisation and IoT is transforming shipping..

Among many things in the making, Shipping is becoming smarter, more efficient, more adaptive and more responsive day by day..

Digital services such as Artificial intelligence, Telematics and the Internet of Things (IoT) which you have watched with awe on the big screen (think Terminator) is coming to container shipping assuring huge benefits in the way the industry operates currently and how it should be operating..

AI is said to be able to learn what ‘normal behaviour’ within an organisation’s computer system looks like and could be the answer to threats like the cyber attacks on Maersk Line while developing the ability to detect and counter any anomalies..

Telematics technology which measures, sends and receives information about movement, speed and performance of vehicles such as GPS could also be used in shipping and coupled with the use of Big Data, telematics can make accurate and usable measurements of weather and sea conditions, fuel consumption, speed, idle time and more to optimise the route a vessel is taking, predict maintenance and significantly reduce operating costs..

If we throw in IoT into the mix and bring innovations such as smart containers etc to the surface, it can significant adaptiveness and responsiveness right down the supply chain..

IoT can help warehouses and ports systems to detect and analyse events to allow for more accurate delivery dates, route optimisation tools, and energy management monitors and fault detection systems that can monitor fleets of ships for faults and maintenance..

It also promises to make cargo tracking easier allowing cargo owners real time visibility to detect unauthorised accessing of shipping containers, track the exact location of individual items, manage the environment of a shipping container, remote temperature monitoring etc etc and many more..

Well, you can learn visit the IoT and Smart Container Forum and learn more about the opportunities offered by these new technologies..

How about saving on empty container movements, huh..??

Not just digitally smart innovations, the Intermodal Europe 2019 conference promises to also highlight other types of innovations such as collapsible or foldable containers..

Containerised shipping accounts for more than 1.82 billion tonnes of global trade and there are more than 26 million containers traversing the oceans.. A lot of these containers pass through ports with a significant trade imbalance (more import than export) which means there are more empty containers causing congestion in ports like Manila, Nigeria, Kenya and the United Kingdom..

According to industry estimates, transporting empty containers between ports accounts for around 25% of all container movements in China and around 29% in Europe..

Collapsible containers are said to be a great solution to this problem as these containers have the ability to be collapsed into a quarter of the space taken up by a traditional container which makes it possible to stack more containers into that same space..

There are online container exchanges and platforms that can bridge the gap between surplus and demand areas for these containers thereby reducing the industry’s dependence on wasteful, empty container parks..

Shipping containers are also being increasingly repurposed as they are customisable, modular, movable, and far quicker to turn into a structure than traditional buildings..

There are many shops, restaurants, houses, student accommodation, hospitals and medical clinics.. Making use of the sturdy steel structure, shipping container clinics were deployed across the capital as mobile medical resources, helping Grace Children’s Hospital treat 4,500 patients in the months after the devastating earthquake in Haiti in 2010..

These innovations can be further discovered and understood at the Smart Shipping & Logistics Forum at Intermodal Europe where market leaders will discuss the implications of container optimisation and how shipping containers are being given an after life in housing and urban design..

Ok, then what about smart ships..??

Not just containers, ships are also becoming smarter and not just smarter, they are set to become so independent they won’t need people any more to operate them (at least on board of the ship).. No more shoveling coal, no more communicating with the engine room using Engine Order Telegraph, no more standing on the bridge of the ship and monitoring the movement of the ship…………………………….. Is this all true..??

Well as per Rolls-Royce Marine, oceangoing shipping will be totally autonomous and totally unmanned by 2035.. 

Small shipping firms are already leading the way with Norwegian chemical company Yara developing the Yara Birkeland, an autonomous ship that will follow short, set paths to carry chemicals and fertilizer from its production plant to local towns.. The ships are expected to launch in 2020, and if it does, it will  be a significant step in the right direction..

It is reported that in May 2019, USV Sea-Kit Maxlimer completed a cargo run across the English Channel, between Tollesbury in Essex and Ostend in Belgium.. Although this could not be operated totally autonomously, the ship used its range of technologies to navigate one of the world’s busiest shipping channels, overseen remotely by a control room in Britain..

Intermodal Europe is embracing the transformation offered by these innovative technologies and will be providing presentations and discussions at the Blockchain Technology and the Digitised Supply Chain Seminar on Tuesday the 5th November to discover how blockchain can create an automated supply chain..

Or listen to experts on these transformative technologies entering the container shipping market at the IoT and Smart Container Forum at the Innovation Theatre on Wednesday the 6th November..