IMT’s solar-powered solution

ALL OVER THE WORLD

TANK CONTAINERS • IMT’S LATEST HARDWARE LAUNCH TAKES TANK TELEMATICS ONTO A NEW LEVEL BUT, AS DETHMER DRENTH EXPLAINS, THERE IS PLENTY MORE TO COME

IN THE FUTURE, it will be possible to track a tank container every inch of its journey from the load point to the receiver, and to receive real-time information not just about its location but about the status of its load: its temperature, pressure, filling level, movement and more. Not only will it be possible but it will be affordable – and customers are going to expect to have that visibility all the way through the supply chain.

That future is not so far away. Intermodal Telematics (IMT) has been working on the next iteration of its telematics solutions and has recently introduced a solar-powered communication and location terminal, CLT20-Ex. “With the CLT20-Ex, IMT brings unlimited wireless data transfer to tank telematics, allowing for optimal accuracy,” says Dethmer Drenth, IMT’s founder and managing director (above).

“Our brand-new CLT20-Ex monitors a tank container’s geographical location, its motion (shock and normal movement) and the temperature of the device,” Drenth explains. “The CLT20-Ex is solar powered, enabling unlimited data transfer and long-lasting operational reliability on tank containers, wagons and other assets that do not have their own power source.”

POWER UP It is that lack of an onboard power source that has been an issue for tank containers – and rail wagons and other unpowered transport assets. Without external power, telematics units and their associated communications systems and sensors need to rely on batteries. As a consequence, it has been difficult to produce systems that can provide real-time information: in order to conserve power, these units often communicate in discrete parcels of information transmitted every few hours.

IMT’s solution is to use solar panels, generating power that is held in a longlasting battery unit. This allows them to send information every five minutes, ensuring that tank operators and others in the supply chain are informed as soon as there is an anomaly in the transport or the cargo, and that receivers are kept up to date on the position of their consignment and its likely time of arrival. When solar power is unavailable – if the tank is stacked in a yard, say, or stowed under deck on a ship – the battery has enough power to last for two to three months, easily enough to cover an international sea voyage.

To ensure connectivity wherever the tank is in the world, the CLT20-Ex is fitted with two modems, a Pentaband 2G/3G unit and a 4G/5G LTE-M, CAT M1 and NB-IoT modem. “We really present a distinctive solution,” Drenth says. “No other telematics provider offers this multi-modem capability.” And, of course, the CLT20-Ex has ATEX IIC and IECEx certification, making it suitable for use with both dangerous and nondangerous goods.

FOCUS ON TANK CONTAINERS Development of the CLT20-Ex is a result of IMT’s core focus on the tank container sector, which marks it apart from some of its competitors, Drenth says. This is also refl ected in its unique user portal, which is designed to offer the information that tank container operators and lessors need. Its algorithms and alarms are based on tank containers and the products they carry, up to and including cryogenic liquids, and are designed to fi t with its clients’ own software systems.

Moreover, this focus has led it to develop 15 different sensors that can be fi tted to tanks, depending on requirements, to track crucial indicators of each individual tank’s location and condition. As with all its hardware and software, these have been developed and are produced in-house – another differentiator: other telematics providers use third-party sensors, which, Drenth says, can push up costs.

Indeed, IMT maintains a team of 11 hardware engineers and 35 software specialists at its headquarters in Breda, the Netherlands. They take each concept from a blank page right up to production. “None of our competitors has that capability,” Drenth says.

That in-house expertise has been built up through close collaboration with the tank container industry, most especially with Hoyer, IMT’s initial and still largest client, though reports that Hoyer is a shareholder in IMT are incorrect. But that relationship is pointing towards the next extension of IMT’s capabilities: Hoyer has a large fl eet of metal intermediate bulk containers (IBCs) that also need to be tracked and monitored. IMT also realises that chassis and other mobile assets are potential expansion areas.

WHAT’S TO COME There are further innovations in the pipeline. One problem in deepsea maritime transport is connectivity for tank containers stowed below deck, which cannot access satellite communication. IMT is exploring the possibility of using in-ship connectivity, linking through the ship’s own satellite system. In that way, Drenth says, the units will always have connectivity. And they will have enough battery life to communicate during the sea voyage, sending alerts in the event of an anomaly in the cargo.

This is the sort of service that is increasingly being demanded of tank container operators: “The pull will come from receivers,” Drenth says. He compares the current situation unfavourably with the sort of quality and safety expected during the production process. Chemical manufacturers and other cargo generators are these days expected to meet ISO standards for quality, safety and environmental performance, but once the goods leave their premises those same standards cannot be assured. Only through constant monitoring can cargo receivers be confi dent that the goods will reach them in the state that they were in at the beginning of a journey.

Drenth notes that, at present, the drive for greater visibility through the supply chain derives from quality and safety considerations. However, with the cost of sophisticated telematics systems having fallen dramatically – and likely to continue to do so – the benefi ts in terms of customer service and effi ciency are coming to the fore. The potential impact on such considerations is immense, he says.

Ultimately, he expects all quality tank container operators and lessors, chemical manufacturers and shipping lines to be fully equipped with the highest standard of telematics capabilities. Those who fail to implement solutions like these will simply not get the business. www.intermodaltelematics.com

IMT HAS DEVELOPED SOLAR-POWERED HARDWARE THAT

CAN ENSURE FULL VISIBILITY OF A TANK CONTAINER AND

ITS CARGO FROM FILLING TO DISCHARGE, WHEREVER

THE TANK IS IN THE WORLD