Passive electronic seals (e-seals)—which consist of a passive RFID tag combined with a mechanical seal for securing cargo containers—have become increasingly popular for transportation and logistics, because they are disposable, low-cost and battery-free. But there is no existing standard for passive e-seals, though a globally recognized standard, namely, ISO 18185, does exist for e-seals manufactured with active RFID tags. GS1 Taiwan is now calling for GS1’s RFID division, EPCglobal, to create a new standard for passive e-seals based on Electronic Product Code (EPC) technology.
Taiwan’s Port of Kaohsiung—one of the largest ports in the world, with more than one million containers imported and exported annually—recently rolled out Yeon Technologies‘ YTE-100 e-seals, which contain passive EPC Gen 2 RFID tags operating at 860 to 960 MHz. The YTE-100 e-seals also comply with the ISO 17712 standard, which defines specifications for mechanical freight container seals, but not for the electronic components found in e-seals (see Taiwan Customs Officials Adopt RFID-enabled Container Seals).
Yeon Technologies initially conducted field tests at a Taiwanese industrial park, in which containers were secured with YTE-100 e-seals and placed on trucks that traveled past RFID readers at speeds of up to 80 kilometers (50 miles) per hour. The interrogators were able to read the unique ID number encoded to each e-seal’s RFID tag 97 percent of the time.
At the Port of Kaohsiung, Impinj Speedway readers were installed at 20 lanes used by trucks that transport the containers. Customs officials were alerted if a container e-seal’s tag ID number did not match an authorized shipment, or if the e-seal had been tampered with or broken. The system had an accuracy rate of more than 97 percent, and reduced the customs officers’ workload by thousands of hours. Following the successful trial, the customs office purchased 40,000 e-seals and 40 interrogators. E-seals are now attached to containers before they are shipped to the terminals.
Consequently, GS1 Taiwan has proposed that EPCglobal develop a passive e-seal standard as part of its Transportation and Logistics Services (TLS) Industry Action Group pilot program. Since 2006, EPCglobal has been testing the use of RFID technology in shipments over the ocean, air and ground, through customs, ports and distribution centers, in order to determine the benefits of EPC technology in the transportation and logistics services industries.
The first phase of the project focused on footwear shipped by sea from Hong Kong to Tokyo. The second phase tested electronic goods and agricultural equipment transported from Shanghai to Los Angeles by air, land and sea. And the third phase tested the effectiveness of sharing data stored on an EPC Information Services (EPCIS) database, and of using active RFID seals on containers traveling through customs in Tokyo and Amsterdam (see EPCglobal Reveals Details of Tokyo-Amsterdam Shipment Project).
Testing standard user requirements for passive e-seals would be part of phase 4 of the TLS pilot program, says GS1 Taiwan researcher Carrie Wen.
“There is no global standard for the use of passive e-seals, but to encourage wide adoption, we believe it is necessary to incorporate the EPC Gen 2 standard,” Wen says. “GS1 Taiwan is proposing a user requirement that we hope will become a global standard in EPCglobal. This EPC Gen 2-compliant e-seal would contain a mechanical seal and RFID tag that follow the ISO 17712 and EPC Gen 2 standards, respectively.”
Using such e-seals has provided significant benefits to the Port of Kaohsiung, Wen says. The port’s customs office has reduced its manpower requirements, improved port management efficiency and lowered company costs by speeding up inspections and customs clearance. The Port of Kaohsiung can also use the technology to strictly control access to container terminals, in order to avoid smuggling.
If standard passive e-seals were used across the transportation and logistics services industries, Wen believes it would provide greater security.
“In container shipping, an e-seal’s unlocked record at any point of the supply chain will be stored, in order to determine illegal destruction or record falsification,” she explains. “Provided a container is locked with an e-seal from departure to destination, it is a secured trip, it could be monitored for location at any time and its status confirmed. The information is collected, stored and shared via an RFID network. Furthermore, e-seals advance automatic verification in the supply chain as well, particularly in customs clearance, and then simplifies the inspection procedure.”
The Port of Kaohsiung’s customs officials had implemented and tested the EPC Gen 2 passive e-seals and RFID interrogators between January 2007 and November 2008, with funding from Taiwan’s Department of Industrial Technology, Ministry of Economic Affairs.
With the technology proven, Wen says, the next phase will see the system installed at other major ports and harbors in Taiwan, such as Taichung, Taipei and Keelung. The TLS pilot program would also seek the support of major shipping and logistics companies using the ports. If the trial is successful and EPCglobal approves the new user requirements, EPC-based passive e-seals would become a global standard for use in the transportation and logistics services industries.
Taiwan is an ideal location in which to test the passive e-seals, Wen indicates, as the country is at the forefront of electronics and semiconductor technologies, which play a major role in the RFID industry.
Later this year, EPCglobal is expected to begin reviewing user requirements for the proposed standard for passive e-seals. Meanwhile, the EPC Gen 2 e-seal system at Kaohsiung will continue to be monitored and expanded into other major ports in 2010. Once the trial has been completed, EPCglobal will assess its results.
“The provision of this technology would then decrease the cost of passive e-seals,” Wen states. “A low-cost e-seal will play an important role in encouraging more countries to use them. We expect a global standard for passive e-seals in the near future for shipping and logistics companies, which will be easy to follow and create more visibility in the global supply chain.”