Sophisticated seals provide real-time cargo tracking

Safety along the container supply chain is no longer just a simple case of locking a box with a reinforced padlock, according to Kevin Norwitz, MD of security sealing company, Vikela Aluvin. Dealing with sophisticated criminal gangs, security specialists have to be equally high-tech in their products, he told FTW. In Aluvin’s case, the latest evidence of its efforts are local trials of stateof- the-art electronic security seals being conducted with certain large customers in conjunction with EJ Brooks, the largest security sealing company in the world. According to Norwitz, the products undergoing the trials are variations of the GlobalTrak high security electronic seal – a unit that qualifies under all the international conditions laid down by world bodies. It is C-TPAT compliant and combined with an advanced GPS and/or GSM tracking device to provide the end user with real-time tracking and event information. “These high security bolt seals with electronic capability are currently being used successfully in the US and the Far East,” said Norwitz. “Vikela, along with Brooks, is now focusing on South Africa, and then the rest of Africa, because of the seals’ capabilities in remote and high-risk areas,” said Norwitz. He added that the underlying concept was that the seals communicated to an Information Management Bureau (IMB) – enabling the user to track the location and status of the cargo at any point along the journey. “Our system is substantially different from the standard vehicle management systems,” said Norwitz. “The most important difference is that it focuses on the trailer and its cargo as opposed to the cab. These standard tracking systems could report that everything is in order because the cab is where it should be, but could have failed to pick up that the actual cargo had been tampered with or removed completely.” At the end of the journey the bolt seal is cut off and disposed of, but the electronic tracking equipment is reusable and rechargeable. Kevin Norwitz … ‘Seals communicate to an Information Management Bureau (IMB), enabling the user to track the location and status of the cargo at any point along the journey.’