Opinion: Where Are All the ‘Smart’ Trailers?
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By James GiermanskiDirectorCentre for Global CommerceI may be missing something, but it seems to me that the U.S. motor carrier industry is lagging behind the vessel industry’s container security accomplishments to the point that it could threaten this nation’s security.
What control over the trailer does the motor carrier industry have, other than the tractor and its driver? And is that enough? Is it the leadership or mindset of the industry that is so different, or is it that one conveyance is more controllable? So far, there is no comparison. The container actually is “smart.” Technological applications for the shipping container allow it to identify the person at its origin responsible for stuffing and arming it. The container also can identify the person at its destination who is authorized to open it.The shipping container can report its own hijacking, detect and report intrusions anywhere on it, and carry a bill of lading and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol data. It can lock or unlock itself and detect and adjust temperature variations via satellite. The container also can detect shielded enriched uranium — and do it with relatively inexpensive sensors, precluding the need to stand in long lines for X-ray scans at ports. Finally, the shipping container can hold a conversation with a satellite, not just be “pinged” from orbit.The shipping container can do all this for less than the trucking industry pays for voice global system mobile communication or for satellite tracking of only the tractor.The benefits offered by the trailer — aside from weight, perhaps — are that it has wheels and can be dragged from one point to another without a chassis.Why has the motor carrier industry limited itself to cellphones and Global Positioning System tracking of just the tractor? Cellphone use is so expensive that drivers are trained to limit the number of words they use. A motor carrier’s GPS tracking device is expensive and cannot actually talk to a satellite; all it is good for is to serve as a tracking system for the tractor. If someone unhooks and hijacks the trailer while the driver is out of the cab, it is not discovered until the driver returns to the scene of the crime. How will the U.S. trucking industry accommodate new U.S. hazardous materials control requirements? This level of sophistication — or lack of it — actually costs more than current technology used in, or able to be used in, smart containers. What is it that the trucking industry does not understand about trailer security?International trailer movement among North American Free Trade Agreement parties is even more disquieting. Who knows where a legitimately delivered U.S. trailer is in Mexico at any given time? Without the Mexican tractor and driver present — assuming we know who they are — how can we protect the security of trailers in northbound drop lots along the Mexican side of the border? How do we control and protect the trailer when it is in the hands of the drayage/transfer driver? How does anyone know the trailer crossed the southern border directly into the United States or went somewhere else to pick up a load of explosives or drugs?One only can conclude that the U.S. motor carrier industry, particularly that part of it passing through land ports-of-entry, does not have a clue about what is really in that trailer when it crosses into the United States. For that matter, how does the Mexican government know what is in the equivalent of in-bond trailers from the United States and Canada passing through Mexico into Central America? How does Mexico know what happens to that trailer when it stops en route in Mexico?Trailers are not as safe as shipping containers, nor are they able to deter terrorist intervention. The reason we tolerate this state of affairs is the more serious question, especially given that the technology is available and research shows that its application would improve the bottom line.Is it simply that vessel carriers are more knowledgeable? If that is the case, it is time for motor carriers to wake up and smell the dangers they could carry to the rest of us. The Centre for Global Commerce is at Belmont Abbey College, Belmont, N.C., where the author is professor of international business. He also is chairman of international transportation security firm Powers International Inc.This Opinion piece appears in the Jan. 22 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.
By James GiermanskiDirectorCentre for Global CommerceI may be missing something, but it seems to me that the U.S. motor carrier industry is lagging behind the vessel industry’s container security accomplishments to the point that it could threaten this nation’s security.
What control over the trailer does the motor carrier industry have, other than the tractor and its driver? And is that enough? Is it the leadership or mindset of the industry that is so different, or is it that one conveyance is more controllable? So far, there is no comparison. The container actually is “smart.” Technological applications for the shipping container allow it to identify the person at its origin responsible for stuffing and arming it. The container also can identify the person at its destination who is authorized to open it.The shipping container can report its own hijacking, detect and report intrusions anywhere on it, and carry a bill of lading and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol data. It can lock or unlock itself and detect and adjust temperature variations via satellite. The container also can detect shielded enriched uranium — and do it with relatively inexpensive sensors, precluding the need to stand in long lines for X-ray scans at ports. Finally, the shipping container can hold a conversation with a satellite, not just be “pinged” from orbit.The shipping container can do all this for less than the trucking industry pays for voice global system mobile communication or for satellite tracking of only the tractor.The benefits offered by the trailer — aside from weight, perhaps — are that it has wheels and can be dragged from one point to another without a chassis.Why has the motor carrier industry limited itself to cellphones and Global Positioning System tracking of just the tractor? Cellphone use is so expensive that drivers are trained to limit the number of words they use. A motor carrier’s GPS tracking device is expensive and cannot actually talk to a satellite; all it is good for is to serve as a tracking system for the tractor. If someone unhooks and hijacks the trailer while the driver is out of the cab, it is not discovered until the driver returns to the scene of the crime. How will the U.S. trucking industry accommodate new U.S. hazardous materials control requirements? This level of sophistication — or lack of it — actually costs more than current technology used in, or able to be used in, smart containers. What is it that the trucking industry does not understand about trailer security?International trailer movement among North American Free Trade Agreement parties is even more disquieting. Who knows where a legitimately delivered U.S. trailer is in Mexico at any given time? Without the Mexican tractor and driver present — assuming we know who they are — how can we protect the security of trailers in northbound drop lots along the Mexican side of the border? How do we control and protect the trailer when it is in the hands of the drayage/transfer driver? How does anyone know the trailer crossed the southern border directly into the United States or went somewhere else to pick up a load of explosives or drugs?One only can conclude that the U.S. motor carrier industry, particularly that part of it passing through land ports-of-entry, does not have a clue about what is really in that trailer when it crosses into the United States. For that matter, how does the Mexican government know what is in the equivalent of in-bond trailers from the United States and Canada passing through Mexico into Central America? How does Mexico know what happens to that trailer when it stops en route in Mexico?Trailers are not as safe as shipping containers, nor are they able to deter terrorist intervention. The reason we tolerate this state of affairs is the more serious question, especially given that the technology is available and research shows that its application would improve the bottom line.Is it simply that vessel carriers are more knowledgeable? If that is the case, it is time for motor carriers to wake up and smell the dangers they could carry to the rest of us. The Centre for Global Commerce is at Belmont Abbey College, Belmont, N.C., where the author is professor of international business. He also is chairman of international transportation security firm Powers International Inc.This Opinion piece appears in the Jan. 22 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.
