The Long Beach Business Journal talks with Sprint about how they partner with Omnilink—Sprint’s featured asset tracking partner—to prevent cargo theft at one of the nation’s busiest ports. Excerpts from the article included below.
The California Highway Patrol’s Cargo Theft Interdiction Program estimates that losses from cargo theft-related crimes impacts the trucking industry, railroads and insurance companies is more than $10 billion.
With so many variables in the way cargo theft may occur, multiple layers of security are clearly necessary. And, with technologies becoming more compact, more powerful and more affordable, businesses at all points of goods movement are investing in GPS tracking devices and other security, to tackle a multi-billion-dollar, industry-wide problem.
“About 40 percent of the nation’s cargo comes through Los Angeles and Long Beach [ports],” said Randy Parsons, director of security for the port. “We’ve got more containers than anybody else, so it might logically follow that we would have more theft.” Parson said between five million and six million containers come through POLB annually.
Opportunities for theft occurs when trucks and trailers are left unattended or are hijacked by an individual or group of thieves on lots, yards and truck stops – the top three locations.
Once cargo leaves the terminal, it becomes the responsibility of the carrier.
Based on the kind of cargo in the container, its value and the risk of someone wanting those goods, a carrier will decide whether or not to install a tracking device. These devices are typically no larger than a cell phone and are built with a global positioning system (GPS) that may be accessed wirelessly, according to Damien Skipper, m2m (machine to machine) solutions sales manager with Sprint.
Skipper works with Sprint’s partner, Omnilink, to provide customers with asset-tracking devices and software for monitoring cargo in transport. “Cargo theft is a huge issue,” he told the Business Journal. “These asset-tracking solutions are there to help with recovery and can have a positive impact.”
Users may access the GPS device data through a secure Web portal from any mobile device wirelessly. Users are alerted based on specific protocols designed by the carrier. For instance, a carrier may program the device to send an email alert to designated users when a truck deviates from a planned route for more than three minutes.
Source: Long Beach Business Journal
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