Objective
90% of all cargo moves in containers and approximately 250 million are shipped annually. There were 1138035 SMEs in EU 25 as of 2003 in the transport and communications industry. The SME segment of the road transport industry in EU 25 employs 3.2 Million people, whilst 107200 personnel are employed in the SME maritime transport industry. Our member transport operators face theft of goods, illegal immigration, transport of dangerous goods and drug and contraband smuggling. In addition to these crimes, authorities must be vigilant to possible terrorist use or targeting of transport vehicles and infrastructure. Among these multiple threats, the misuse of the ISO maritime shipping container transport system is the most important one requiring a co-ordinated pan European response. The ubiquity of containers is the system’s principal strength; however there is little or no control over possible mis-use of the system by terrorists because less than 2% of containers are X-rayed or checked at ports. Current tracking devices require external antennas and are prone to damage or vandalism. Our concept is to replace the container door with a composite one which is transparent to RF. Tracking and sensing electronics to detect door opening, chemical explosives, radioactive devices and stowaways would be encapsulated in the door, thus greatly improving security and reducing losses. Target price of the system is € 740. We have estimated that over a ten year period insurance savings alone would amount to approximately € 38 billion across Europe.
Fields of science
Call for proposal
FP7-SME-2007-2
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
BSG-SME-AG - Research for SME associations/groupings
Coordinator
SE1 7SP London
United Kingdom
See on map
Participants (13)
1040 Brussels
See on map
45800 Saint-jean-de-braye
See on map
8241 AW Lelystad
See on map
LE13 1TT Melton Mowbray
See on map
Participation ended
6715 Esbjerg N
00260 Helsinki
See on map
EC3M 4BS London
See on map
LE13 0PB Melton Mowbray
See on map
N-0580 Oslo
See on map
1680 Sofia
See on map
W1J 7SG London
See on map
3000 Celje
See on map
GU26 6LG Grayshott
See on map