Traxens, a French company providing logistics asset data and services for the supply chain industry, has announced a Series C funding round at €20 million ($22.7 million). The financing will come from Itochu Corporation, Bpifrance, and Supernova Invest, and will be used to improve the company’s smart containers and rail freight businesses.
Smart devices have the ability to significantly transform the utility and value of shipping container equipment assets, according to Drewry’s latest Container Census & Leasing Annual Review & Forecast 2019/20 report. Smart containers have expanded in prominence in a very short space of time and the pace of adoption is expected to be faster over the next five years.
Videotel launched a new virtual reality (VR) training title, aiming to help ship operators avoid possible claims running into millions of pounds, because of cargo damage caused by insufficient tank cleaning on board chemical tankers. Videotel’s VR training module titled ‘Wall Wash Test-Protecting Your Cargo’, has been produced in association with the company’s VR content partners OMS.
Pirates attacked a South Korean-flagged cargo ship in the South China Sea early on July 22, and stole thousands of dollars in cash, as well as the sailors’ shoes. Because of the attack, two people sustained minor injuries. What is more, after the pirates boarded the CK Bluebell, they took $13,000 and belongings, such as mobile phones, clothes and shoes from the 22 crewmembers. The incident happened near the Singapore Strait.
Blockchain-based logistics ShipChain and GTX Corp, a provider of GPS and NFC tracking location-based services, announced a new partnership for a new global NFC blockchain shipment tracking solution, using energy-efficient NFC smart tags. The encrypted data collected from the tags will be uploaded to the ShipChain blockchain backend providing authentication and chain of custody.
The Society of International Gas Tanker & Terminal Operators Ltd (SIGTTO) published the first output from the Human Element Committee, ‘Recommendations for Management of Cargo Alarm Systems’, recommending the implementation of alarm management philosophies for cargo alarm systems on gas carriers.
France-based Neoline has concluded to the shipyard that will construct its first two sail-powered RoRo cargo ships to operate between France and US from 2021. Namely, chose France-based Neopolia to build the vessels. At first, the vessels will be operating on a pilot route, linking Saint-Nazaire, France with the US East Coast and Saint-Pierre & Miquelon off the coast of Newfoundland.
Maersk launched an online product to address the problem of overbookings. Maersk Spot provides customers a cargo loading guarantee at a fixed price upfront. Maersk Spot is available on all trades, except in and out of US. Silvia Ding, Global Head of Ocean Products at Maersk, explained that Maersk Spot aspires to reduce the buying experience to five online steps.
Hapag-Lloyd presented its new real-time container monitoring program ‘Hapag-Lloyd LIVE’. The program offers real-time GPS location, temperature information, and power-off alerts, among other services. In an initial effort, the company is retrofitting its entire reefer fleet of some 100,000 containers.
New ways of cooperation can offer can benefit many parties, share costs and risks, and come up with proven solutions quickly, Kalmar believes. The company stated that co-creation makes sure that the developed solution solves a real customer need and it speeds up industry development by leading to completely new solutions that combine different perspectives.
