Founded in 2015, Hanhaa is a leading British internet-of-things innovator and private LTE/5G network supplier. Over the past 6 years, Hanhaa has become a key player within the logistics industry providing the world’s leading 3PLs and freight forwarders with the technology to achieve supply chain visibility and operational efficiency.
Logistics and transportation companies are constantly looking for ways to improve internal processes and increase profitability. In an effort to meet the evolving needs of our customers and to solve the issues they face, the team at Hanhaa created SolarLive, the solution to long lasting solar-powered tracking.
SolarLive has been specifically designed with shipping containers in mind. It’s built for flexibility, longevity and extreme robustness on all kinds of non-power-supplied assets.
Why SolarLive and Why Now?
SolarLive was born to meet our customer’s logistic challenges whilst also inventing a new solution to tackle the global issues that businesses the world over have endured in 2020/2021 and continue to experience now.
Unkown Knowns
“The only thing that is certain is that there will be new plagues and new pandemics. It is not a question of if, but when.”
Global restrictions as a result of Covid-19 saw the industry being greatly affected when it came to the transportation of cargo, availability of containers and goods production.
National lockdowns have seen a customer shift from spending on services to commodities. With the shift to e-commerce in both B2B and retail sectors, supply chains have graduated from a second rung in the strategic hierarchy of business planning to becoming a backbone around which all strategic decisions by firms are now based.
These changes in shopping patterns triggered by the pandemic has led to increased import demand for manufactured consumer goods, a large part of which is moved in shipping containers.
The global shortage of shipping containers has highlighted the need to know where containers are located at any given moment further.
With the easing of lockdown measures as well as stimulus packages supporting consumer demand, inventory-building and frontloading in anticipation of new waves of the pandemic helped contribute to an increase in containerized trade flows.
To add insult to injury, the situation was further exacerbated by the obstruction of the Suez Canal by a grounded container ship. As ships, and the containers on them, took longer to reach their destinations, the shortage of available empty boxes increased, including in Shanghai, China. As a result, freight rates increased not only on the routes passing through the Suez Canal but also on nearly all other routes.
Consumer Demands
“It shouldn't be a surprise that intermodal shippers want more visibility… They can order a pizza and see it every step of the way, but they can't find out where their $30,000 container is located.”
Global opinion on freight tracking has significantly developed over the course of past years. Earlier, simple methods such as track-and-trace were considered to be sufficient to get insights.
Manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers and other shippers now require full visibility into freight status, condition and location. Business owners expect to access a single-point, comprehensive information dashboard including arrival and departure time, pick-up and destination locations, in-transit updates with a real-time concrete GPS-enabled system. 100% visibility has become a core service offering and an important metric evaluated by shippers when choosing service providers.
Who can blame them?
One key reason that container tracking has gained importance is that shipping goods is a long and complicated process. You would want to monitor your shipment to ensure that it reaches its destination on time and in sound condition. If at all unpleasant surprises are to come your way, you can take timely mitigatory measures by exactly knowing the location of your shipment.
Late Shipments = Expensive Consequences
A late shipment can have an unexpected ripple effect on the entire supply chain process. For example, a factory might have to halt or increase its production or a docking business might have to make its onsite employees work overtime for when the shipment finally arrives. Situations such as this can be avoided if there is a container monitoring solution in place that can provide timely updates on freight movement.
To meet customer needs, businesses need a transparent supply chain which has a great flow of information. This will help develop consistency in identifying Stock Keeping Units (SKUs) and enforcing timelines.
Greater visibility can help uncover hidden costs by providing real-time data for analysis. Predictive analysis makes use of all the historical data based on past vessel or ports’ performance. This boosts productivity across the entire supply chain making both shipping companies and shippers happy.
By being updated continuously with your container’s location, you can avoid charges such as demurrage and detention charge. Besides, being informed about your container’s location in real-time can help you avoid the additional operations costs as you will be better equipped to take corrective measures. These costs may emerge in light of a significant disruption in the process of shipping containers.
Sustainability of Battery
Battery life is the chink in the armour of the fleet tracking industry.
Long battery life is imperative because most companies do not have the time to change the power source on a GPS tracker frequently. It’s not only a time-consuming process in case of a large fleet but also difficult to keep a tab on.
The cost issue of having to check and replace batteries which in large IoT installations quickly becomes the single biggest cost factor over an IoT product or sensor’s lifetime. Then there is the environmental impact of having billions of battery waste a year. Moving to a more sustainable solution will also have a positive impact on your brand’s perception in the eyes of the consumer.
New solar technology is more efficient, particularly when it comes to generating more power with reduced sun exposure.
Today’s rechargeable batteries can often have the same lifetime as their associated assets, bringing significant cost savings to customers who no longer have to worry about battery replacements. Operational visibility also improves as blind spots and service interruptions due to depleted batteries disappear.
SolarLive: The One and Only Solution for Long Distance Tracking
Hanhaa’s cargo tracking and monitoring device, ParceLive, has and continues to provide our worldwide customer base with unrivalled supply chain visibility. Couple this with ParceLive’s telematics and blockchain integration, you’d be hard pressed to find a more intelligent device on the market, fit for your logistic needs.
Whilst ParceLive goes beyond small package delivery to solve for project, pallet and other outsized load transportation issues, the device would have a challenging time continuously reporting back on data for journeys that are over 3 months in length.
A proportion of our customers ship high value and temperature sensitive goods all across the world, meaning that journeys can last up to 6 months and longer before they have the chance to get in contact with the container holding their cargo.
The team at Hanhaa set out to create a device as capable, sustainable and agile as ParceLive, but all the while being robust and built for endurance.
And thus, SolarLive was born.
SolarLive is the ideal solution for containers, trailers, or assets in remote locations and harsh conditions where no other recharging facilities exist.
The device can withstand harsh weather conditions—rain/snow, extreme high/low temperatures and UV rays, among others —as well as shock and impact, minimizing costly repair/replacement costs and service interruptions.
All SolarLive Devices come with default GPS tracking and motion sensors with the option to add any or all of the 5 additional sensors. Each of the sensors are built to respond to exceptional events set by you – such as cargo being stored at the wrong temperature, when mounted, or if it has been dropped.
Not only this, but all SolarLive users have access to our telematics platform enabling geofencing, automated reporting and more. It’s never been so easy to obtain improved fleet management, greater control and enhanced reporting abilities with a container monitoring device.
By using sustainable energy like solar, we take great pride in providing practical innovations that not only help clients make smarter decisions but also empower them to limit their carbon footprints.
When you consider the ROI for a container tracking system, you need to calculate the cost associated with a disruption in your supply chain that may happen due to the inability to know where your containers are. Simply put, what value does getting automated real-time updates on the movement of your shipment add to your supply chain.
For instance, can you make better decisions and avoid additional charges because you have overall visibility on your shipments’ movement? Are your customers benefiting from knowing exactly when to expect the cargo?
We think so.
