At the sun sets on 2022, Al Tama, ORBCOMM Vice President of Business Development, Container and Port Solutions reflects on ORBCOMM’s maritime industry successes this year and what’s to come on the horizon.
2022 has been an extraordinary year for the maritime sector, which has made demonstrable progress towards its goals of increasing efficiency despite a turbulent operating landscape. We have been particularly impressed by the industry’s commitment to use every tool to streamline the global supply chain in a manner that is both environmentally and financially sustainable. Now, more than ever, shipowners and operators are working to better utilize data, optimize efficiencies, maximize profitability and build a more sustainable future through IoT technology. The ORBCOMM team has worked hard to innovate in line with customer needs and ensure that our portfolio evolves in step with the rapidly changing sector.
Enhancing the cold chain
As a leader in cold chain telematics, we’re proud to have debuted the next evolution in remote reefer management in March. The CT 3500 solution features enhanced functionality, analytics capabilities, connectivity options and interoperability with third-party telematics solutions. The solution, which integrates seamlessly with our ReeferConnect and VesselConnect platforms, delivers location, status and other critical data insights through a single window. It was designed to eliminate gaps with unrivaled global LTE coverage, providing complete visibility and remote control over assets at every point in the maritime industry supply chain. This ensures cargo quality and compliance while mitigating costly insurance claims. It also helps eliminate unnecessary delays, optimizes turn times at ports by allowing carriers to run pre-trip inspections remotely while empty reefers are on a vessel, expedites cargo distribution and improves ROI. This past November, we upgraded the solution to make it easier for users to apply CargoCare rules to different types of cargo, enabling shipping lines to offer differentiated service levels for customers, providing a better experience and strengthening customer relationships.[LP1]
Out-of-the-box thinking
We’ve been eager to bring our knowledge from the cold chain to the dry container world. In April, we announced that Hapag-Lloyd, one of the world’s leading global shipping lines with a fleet of 252 modern container ships and a capacity of approximately 3 million TEU[CL2] [HB3] , selected our newest telematics technology to provide end-to-end visibility for their dry container fleet. As 2022 draws to a close, we’re thrilled that the first units will be with them for installation before the end of December.
We’re also busy with the impending industry-wide launch of the solution next year and anticipate strong demand as the maritime industry sees the value of eliminating visibility gaps on land and at sea.
Strengthening relationships
2022 witnessed the long-awaited return of in-person engagement and we were very grateful to have had the opportunity to meet our customers at various maritime industry events throughout the year, including Cool Logistics Global 14 in Barcelona; Intermodal Europe in Amsterdam; IANA Intermodal Expo and TPM22 in California; and the International Chamber of Shipping’s 100th year celebration, to name a few.
ORBCOMM was also delighted to join with other maritime stakeholders in commemorating World Maritime Day on September 29. The occasion was particularly pertinent for us this year, as the UN-selected annual theme of “new technologies for greener shipping”, in support of wider ESG-related goals, is in lockstep with a central tenet of our philosophy—sustainability.
We were excited to strengthen our collaboration with ZIM Integrated Shipping Services on November 8, when it signed a service agreement to utilize our fleet management platform, ReeferConnect. The agreement enables ZIM, a leading global container liner shipping company, to leverage the unique interoperability of ReeferConnect to remotely access data from multiple types of OEM and third-party telematics devices, while seamlessly integrating with ZIM’s backend system, ZIMonitor. This partnership has provided ZIM with deeper data insights, in addition to maximum visibility of their refrigerated containers, and is a significant milestone in the evolution of its operations.
ORBCOMM also hosted a webinar in November, during which we set out our vision for the adoption of modern smart dry container technology and discussed the impact it will have on the market.
Looking to the future
While 2022 has seen the introduction of new solutions, we continue to innovate to address the emerging needs of existing and prospective customers. As shipping lines and their customers seek to better utilize data and metrics to inform decision making, leveraging IoT offers early adopters tangible commercial advantages over non-digitalized competitors. We believe this is the moment for industry to harness big data and to strive towards aligning visibility, efficiency, profitability and business growth, transparency and sustainability goals. The future is here.
For more information about how ORBCOMM is driving the evolution of the shipping industry through the power of data, visit here.