MARAD 01-04 Contact: Robyn Boerstling

Wednesday, January 07, 2004 Tel.: (202) 366-5807

Electronic seal technology is maturing and may be applied to container security, according to a study released today by the Cargo Handling Cooperative Program (CHCP). Electronic seals, or e-seals, have been proposed as a way to improve security and track cargo movements worldwide. However, e-seals would likely have to be standardized in order to be widely used, and the study did not find any one type suitable for use as a standard.

The CHCP, a partnership between the Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration and private industry, compared five electronic security seals proposed for use on intermodal freight containers. The study found that the technology will continue to improve, and that it is critical to allow for growth in performance in application to the industry.

"There's an urgent need for effective technology in this area," said U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta. "By testing e-seals in the laboratory, at terminal gates, on the road, and in a simulated rail environment, we are making significant steps toward ensuring the safety of cargo containers throughout the nation."

The seals tested were All Seal by All Set Tracking, DataSeal by Hi-G-Tek, eSeal by eLogicity, MacSema + Navalink by CGM, and SmartSeal by Savi.

The e-seals have container information and can show if the seal has been subjected to tampering. The tested seals can be "read" by direct contact or on a specific radio frequency, which varies with the type of seal. For a system using e-seals to be efficient, seals would likely have to be "read" by one kind of reader, using one standard radio frequency. "For e-seals to be useful, there will have to be an accepted international standard," said Maritime Administrator Captain William G. Schubert. "Any real-life solution must also provide real improvements in security and efficiency without unduly burdening operators. These results show that the intermodal freight community needs to take into consideration design and operations issues before any single e-seal solution can be standardized."

The work of the cooperative was supported by the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center of San Diego, California, and the Center for Commercial Deployment of Transportation Technologies (CCDoTT) at the California State University, Long Beach. The report is available online at www.marad.dot.gov.

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