The Maritime shipping industry is one of the key building blocks in the world trade system with over 80% of goods being moved by sea. With some 18.1 million units equaling 438.9million tons of goods being handled by the UK ports in 2020 it is a thriving global business. Demand has only risen on the back of a surge in e-commerce over the pandemic, heightening the urgency of shipping industry to deliver large numbers of goods on time. Shipping container numbers have grown massively which has also raised the frequency of hazards which can be costly if incurred.
Such hazards/ issues are diverse in nature as well as in cause. Criminal or nefarious purposes in the form of thefts or tampering of containers, accounts for 15% of cargo theft across Europe. Ill practices or inadequate security solutions can also lead to exacerbated issues. In recent years as much as 23% of cargo claims have been related to temperature or humidity issues. Other issues such as poor packing of containers has led to 28% of claims being because of physical damage whilst in transit. Also, unbalanced loads have contributed to a staggering number of containers lost overboard. With numbers of lost containers reaching over 3,000 last year and over 1,000 in the first quarter of this year alone.
Finding the right solutions to deal with the problems in the container supply chain is a tough task. There are many types of products that serve different purposes for securing goods for transit which are as follows.