Olaf Habert explains what the data boxes are all about. In this way, the shipping company wants to identify disruptions in supply chains at an early stage – and also use the data for other business models
Hamburg-based Hapag-Lloyd will be the first shipping company in the world to equip its entire inventory of containers with data transmitters in order to identify delivery disruptions at an early stage. By the end of 2023 at the latest, all three million standard containers (TEU) should report their movement data, but also information about vibrations or temperature fluctuations to the head office via the cloud.
According to the Swiss supplier Nexxiot, the equipment with the solar-powered data boxes, which transmit their information via mobile communications, costs around 200 euros per container. “Many customers are willing to pay a surcharge,” says Hapag-Lloyd manager Olaf Habert in an interview with Handelsblatt. Discussions with the industry showed that.
Hapag also wants to use the data for other business models. “With eleven million transports a year, we cover a fairly large part of the transport infrastructure,” says Habert. “And we can certainly draw interesting conclusions from our data.”