Lion’s Share Done: 100,000 Reefer Containers Are Smart Now!

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Credit: hoch3media/unsplash

As of today, Hapag-Lloyd has equipped 100,000 of its reefers with monitoring equipment, exceeding the goal it set when the rollout began in 2020. By doing this, Hapag-Lloyd has “smartened up” a sizable portion of its reefer fleet.


Andrea Schöning, Senior Director Container Steering

“I am really proud of how our colleagues on site have been doing their job. In particular over the recent months they have pushed our depots installing the monitoring devices. While we continue to install in the field, finding the remaining ones in the fleet is getting trickier and trickier. We target to exceed the 90% fleet installation mark during the upcoming construction phase of new reefer containers.”

Tracking devices installed 

Presently, tracking devices are installed in newly constructed containers as soon as they leave 

the factory, and depots install tracking devices in our fleet’s containers as part of their routine Pre-Trip Inspection (PTI) process. With more than 12,000 installations since the rollout began, Hapag-own Lloyd’s reefer depot in Rotterdam leads the pack, followed by Belgian Container Maintenance in Antwerp (4,700 installations), and Tercon Terminal de Contenedores in Guayaquil, Ecuador (4.300 installations).

We already monitor our fleet for any mishaps that could harm the cargo, such as incorrect temperature setpoints or technical alerts, utilising the data from our 100,000 reefers. As a result, our local staff manage up to 2,000 incidents each week to lower cargo claims and raise the calibre of transportation.

Hapag-Lloyd also introduced “Smart Pre-Trip Inspections” for reefers in the summer of 2022. With this, we will validate the condition of the reefer in the depot using data rather than the more conventional physical machine checks. As a result, we will be able to cut costs and provide reefers to consumers more quickly because they won’t have to wait for a PTI in the depot.

One step ahead 

The use of the Hapag-Lloyd LIVE commercial offering is expanding significantly. Our customers ordered the service for more than 6,000 reefer containers in February 2023 alone, and we anticipate being able to sell it on more than 50.000 units for the entire 2023 calendar year. It has established itself as a differentiator for our reefer customers, keeping us one step ahead of our rivals.

90% of the company’s reefer containers will be outfitted with monitoring equipment by August 2023. By the end of the year, every reefer box from Hapag-Lloyd will be intelligent.

By the end of 2023, the whole Hapag-Lloyd container fleet should be fully automated.

Hapag-Lloyd has set itself the objective of making all of its containers smart, including its 1.6 million dry containers, in addition to its reefer containers. Dry container tracking device installation started towards the end of last summer and is still going strong in depots all over the world today. Hapag-Lloyd anticipates introducing a first customer product for standard boxes this year and completing the installation of tracking devices on the majority of its containers by the end of 2023.

Olaf Habert, Director Container Applications

“By having equipped the lion’s share of our reefer fleet and starting mass installations on the dry fleet, we have made a large step towards creating the world’s smartest container fleet. Now it’s time to also bring our use cases to the next level.”

 

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Source: Hapag Lloyd