RFID Tracks Military Families' Household Goods

As shipments originating in the United States move through the transportation chain, the tags are read again using RFID portals located at Red Ball's local agent. They are then read again at Orca Moving Systems a port agent in Lakewood, Wash.; at an RFID portal at port agent Express-Transport Shipping Agency (ETSA) in Bremerhaven, Germany; and with handheld readers operated by shipment forwarder Spedition Weilermann at the final destination. Shipments from Germany to the United States are tracked through the transportation chain by means of the same read points, but in the opposite direction.

The ability to track belongings in transit enables shippers to provide customers with detailed information about their possessions' location, as well as insight into when they will arrive. For the companies involved in the shipping, it also automates the manual process of checking shipments at each stage of the journey.

Handheld interrogators are used to read tags on crates, boxes and other packages.

"[The shipping industry] creates an enormous amount of paperwork and has almost zero automation and data visibility," says Robinson. There is also the additional security—for both shipping agents and the shipped goods' owners—of knowing where boxes and even individually tagged high-value items were last tracked. This allows them to determine who is ultimately responsible for any goods stolen or misplaced.

Red Ball's aim is to offer RFID tracking as a managed service to shipping agents and their military and civilian customers. The next stage will be to expand the military use of the GMS, with the next most-used military routes already being investigated.

The trial grew from an initial investigation by RFID Decisions, on behalf of Red Ball, into the feasibility of tagging Red Ball's inventory of several million plywood shipping crates in order to better track their location and usage. However, the required investment and the complexity of establishing enough read points to make the system work would not have provided any return on investment, according to Robinson. In the end, the potential for tagging household shipments with the increased customer service and security it provides was considered a far better option.