GPA, SIPG test out e-tags on Savannah-Shanghai trade

THE Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) and the Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG) have inaugurated a cargo tracking pilot programme that uses electronic tags equipped with RFID technology to follow the movement of freight from point of origin to final destination.

The pilot project requires container boxes transported from Shanghai to Savannah to be equipped with RFID tags, or e-tags, in an effort to improve security and trade flows between the US and China.

A statement from port authorities said that since March about 150 tags have been used per vessel on weekly sailings between the two ports. Recently, the GPA also began sending containers equipped with e-tags from Savannah to Shanghai, to make it a two-way operation.

It said the system has the potential to be used by the US Department of Homeland Security, and Customs and Border Protection to monitor imported cargo. GPA's chairman of the board of directors Steve Green said, "This programme will also have a big impact on US security and that of our trading partners."

This sentiment was echoed by SIPG's vice president Bao Qifan who said: "The threat against terrorism, stowaways and food contamination has made real-time container monitoring throughout the logistics chain an immediate necessity." He said that China is the first nation to put this technology into use on a commercial shipping line.

The Port of Savannah now handles nearly half of total mid- and south Atlantic trade with Shanghai by offering one of the largest selections of all-water services between Shanghai and the US east coast.

The GPA has been cooperating with SIPG on bilateral issues affecting operations, marketing, and information technology since 2004. The GPA also partners with the Sydney Ports Corporation, Panama Canal Authority, Port of Shimizu in Japan, and from the beginning of June 2008, the Suez Canal Authority as well.