cargo tracking
solutions will be
ubiquitous
Martin Bäckman, Berg Insight INTERNET OF
THINGS
Here, David Smith investigates the next big innovation set to impact the cargo sector.
The IoT market has been slow to expand in the air cargo
sector, but analysts believe that it is now poised to explode
into life. Martin Bäckman, from the Swedish market
research fi rm Berg Insight, estimates that there will be one
million sales of tracking devices for air freight cargo by 2023, a
four-fold increase on current levels. Several major cargo airlines
have already announced innovative IoT projects, including
Finnair, IAG Cargo, Emirates and Virgin Atlantic.
Bäckman says that the main reason for the slow progress
up to now – apart from the traditional inertia in the air cargo
sector – is the stringent regulations on what type of technologies
may be used for air shipments. The rules are intended to prevent
interference with an aircraft’s communication technology, but at
times they can have the undesirable effect of stifl ing innovation.
However, Bäckman believes that IoT devices are so useful to air
cargo customers and airlines that they are breaking through.
“The value of the cargo being shipped in the air is generally
much higher compared to shipments by sea, so IoT has so much
to offer to this market segment. For that reason, I’m predicting
such a rapid embrace of the
new technologies,” he says.
Real-time tracking
Another reason for Bäckman’s
prognosis of fast growth is that
the cost of real-time tracking
technology has been falling
quickly, which makes it much
more viable to use IoT devices
to track goods of slightly
lower value, as well as nonperishables.
“By the end of last year,
there were 230,000 installed
tracking solutions for air
freight cargo, but we predict it
will more than quadruple to
a million units by the end of
Within a decade,
8 December 2019 www.airlogisticsinternational.com
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