RFID

Some travellers track their suitcase from their phone. What if cargo could do something similar? RFID creates a digital trail that helps partners know where shipments are and when they were last seen. 

A shipment passes through many warehouses, trucks and handling points before reaching its destination. RFID uses electronic tags that are automatically detected along the way, creating location updates whenever cargo passes a scanner.  

In a pilot led by Air Cargo Belgium together with technology provider Aucxis, freight forwarders Expeditors and Kuehne+Nagel, and ground handler dnata, tagged shipments were identified within seconds. Faster identification resulted in smoother handovers between partners and fewer delays. 

The test also revealed a challenge for pharmaceutical products. They are often wrapped with special material or packed in special containers to protect them during transport, making it harder for scanners to read the RFID tags.