In Brazil, the Paranaguá and Antonina Port Authority (APPA) has introduced a new system to monitor fertilizer trucks. The new technology will make it possible to organize flows of these vehicles, thereby reducing the impact they have on the city centre. In addition, it will ensure more security and productivity when handling consignments at the Port of Paranaguá.
Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) tags will be fitted to almost 500 trucks that regularly transport consignments from the key to back port warehousing. Work will be under seen by Prof Caio Fontana of the Institute of the Sea at São Paulo Federal University (Unifesp).
This will initially operate as a pilot project, with the port of Paranaguá chosen because of its high level of computerization. According to the professor, the use of tags to track trucks will produce numerous benefits, principally
cutting the time it takes to discharge consignments, increasing the number of journeys undertaken by the driver and also increasing reliability in the logistics chain.
Tags will be fitted to the windscreens of the trucks, using a substance that makes it impossible for them to be adulterated. Antennas will then be place at the access to the quays, at the loading funnel, at the exit to the quays and at the warehouse receiving the fertilizer at the back area of the port.
APPA will know the exact position of each vehicle, thereby reducing the amount of time spent on correcting errors, when, for example, trucks are in the wrong queue, use the wrong loading funnel or take the wrong product to the warehouses.
The system will not require batteries and should last for seven years.
BC