September 29 - Back in the day, you were lucky to know what hemisphere your cargo was in once it slipped over the horizon. Now, thanks to a new app launched by shipping line Safmarine a cargo client can know to the metre where their precious cargo is on t
The app allows what the line describe as 24/7 information on the location of an ocean container throughout is global supply chain. In a video posted to YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=449ll5iKOQQ - a comic scenario is played out as to the importance of knowing exactly where your container is. The plot is far-fetched and will raise eyebrows among Health and Safety officers the world over but does succinctly demonstrate how important it is to know the location of a container.
A character also shows how finding out the location of a container once meant being in in front of a PC screen, tied to a shipping office, struggling to obtain real-time information. The app allows the user of a smartphone to be anywhere yet able to obtain such information in the field as required.
Safmarine is a keen enthusiast of spreading its message through social networking, posting around 170 videos to the popular site YouTube and HLPFI salutes the line's adoption of social media marketing.
