The Danish shipping line, Maersk Line, announced a new tool to keep control during the road for refrigerated units. The Remote Container Management (RCM) for customers provides valuable information about the conditions and location of the products.
“RCM has the capabilities that our customers have wanted from us for a very long time. It is going to insert an unprecedented level of visibility and reliability into their supply chains that will make their business better,” says Vincent Clerc, Chief Commercial Officer for Maersk Line.
With the RCM, the customers and the shipping line have access to the following data, at any time:
-Reefer current location.
-Temperature
-Atmospheric conditions.
-Power Status.
“The old days of waiting, hoping and reacting are over. Our customers can now monitor and make decisions about their supply chain as their cargo moves, as well as use the data to study and improve their entire supply chain. Particularly for our customers with very sensitive, higher value refrigerated cargo, RCM significantly raises the total value proposition of refrigerated container trade.”
How does RCM works?
Maersk explained in a press release that the technology behind their innovation is simple. A GPS, a modem and a SIM card on all 270,000 of Maersk’s refrigerated ‘reefer’ containers enables location, temperature, humidity and power status readings to be continuously collected and stored. That information then reaches customers and RCM global support teams via satellite transmitters on 400 of Maersk Line’s owned and chartered ships.
The system is also capable to deliver automatic notifications to inform container malfunctions. In the first six months of 2017, RCM has alerted Maersk Line to more than 4,500 incorrect temperature settings on customers’ reefers.
“Our customers have always wanted to know where their products are and if they are being properly cared for from the very beginning to when their customer receives them. Now with RCM, they will always know,” says Anne Sophie Zerlang, Head of Reefer for Maersk Line.
“We expect we will see an increase in our traditional perishable reefer volumes like agriculture as a result of RCM, but also new opportunities in sectors like pharmaceuticals where there is also a need for the kind of supply chain integrity RCM provides. As we receive feedback and learn more from our customers, we will look for ways to improve and expand the value of RCM,” said Zerlang.
Access to Maersk’ RCM data is free to customers. By paying a subscription fee, based on the number of containers shipped, a customer will be able to download all data from the full journey of the container.
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