RFID: Container e-Seals Promise: Will Governments Deliver?
Thursday, May 17, 2007 - RFID Connections

Bert Moore

Editor

 

The announcement last week that ISO has added air interface protocols to its 18185 series for electronic security seals (e-Seals) for containers means that, for the first time, e-Seal vendors can develop interoperable products. The promise of an e-Seal standard is that seaports could automatically identify containers that have been tampered with.  This will help guard against biological and toxicological attacks as well as to combat the proliferation of counterfeit and diverted products and to help prevent human smuggling.

 

However, for this promise to truly pay off, it's up to governments to develop "green lanes" to speed clearance of containers through Customs in order to provide sufficient incentive for companies to use e-Seals.

 

In a port, e-Seal readers could be mounted on the cranes that unload container ships.  Even in early stages of deployment, before most or all containers are equipped with them, port operators would be able to assign containers to one of three categories: intact, no e-Seal (or a damaged e-Seal), and tampered with.

 

Customs officials could be alerted to inspect the containers that had been tampered with first.  However, once e-Seals are routinely read, the likelihood of these containers being broken into will diminish, leaving just two categories: intact and no e-Seal.

 

Containers with intact e-Seals that were shipped from secure facilities by trusted shippers could then pass through without inspection -- freeing port facility space and trimming one to three days off transit time through the facility.  This would not only expedite delivery of shipments but, over the course of a year, allow container owners to make better use of their assets.

 

Admittedly, not all breaches of containers would come directly through the doors.  It's possible to remove hinges or breach the top, sides or floor.  Sensors inside the container, measuring changes in temperature, humidity or light, could be linked to the e-Seal to identify these types of entries.

 

Because all e-Seals would communicate with readers according to ISO 18185, it's not necessary to have a sensor standard.  Any sensor data could be communicated through the e-Seal using the ISO standard protocols.  As a result, e-Seal manufacturers could employ proprietary sensor technology and interfaces as a means of product differentiation.

 

With increasing pressure to secure the ports and containerized shipments -- and a lack of sufficient personnel to thoroughly inspect every container -- e-Seals provide a means to reduce the burden on inspectors while still increasing security.  However, for all this to become a reality, governments will have to create procedures for the establishment of "green lanes" in port facilities -- then see that it happens.

 

While e-Seals have the advantage of placing the financial burden (cost) on the prime beneficiary of expedited shipments (the shipper), without the financial incentive of "green lanes," e-Seals' promise will go unfulfilled and ports will remain at greater risk.

 

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Comments on this column?  E-mail me: b.moore@aimglobal.org

 

 

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