No pier pressure, but sea-ing shipping logistics on a large scale really floats our boat. In this episode of TWT, Tamara visited Eastman headquarters in Akron, OH to learn about how tires are made and the upcoming innovations in the tire industry. She also visited Chiquita to get to know their shipping/distribution process and how technology is affecting and improving it. In addition to what we learned from Chiquita, there are several technological advancements being implemented that will help make the shipping industry faster and more energy-efficient:

Automated Ships & Trucks

As you could probably predict from the technology discussed in this episode of TWT, automated trucks for shipping goods aren’t too far into our future. Since driverless trucks would be able to day and night without rest, it would allow them to be driven at a slower pace which would end up maximizing fuel efficiency while also transporting goods more quickly.

But did you also know that automated ships are currently in the works? That’s right, Google and Apple both have iterations of automated ships in the works. Requiring a much more minimal crew, this will likely cut costs drastically.

Environmentally Friendly Ships

As Chiquita mentioned in this episode, there is a strong push for cargo ships to attempt to reduce their environmental impact. In addition to the steps, we saw Chiquita taking, one way we may see this happen is for ships to run on sustainable fuel sources like wind energy. Though a wind-powered ship wouldn’t be able to transport as quickly, the trade-off is the possibility of allowing the ship to carry a higher quantity of goods.

Trains

As you’re likely aware, shipping via train fell out of favor for quite a long period because of the high cost of fuel and the negative environmental impact. However, now that more environmentally friendly technologies have been developed, trains are beginning to resurge as a means of transporting goods across countries. It is still appealing as a mode of transportation since train routes are much faster forms of transport than going by road, thereby making it much more energy-efficient.

Blockchain

This one likely leaves you scratching your head since roughly 99.9% of the time you hear this word it’s associated with the financial sector. However, shipping companies have recently begun using this technology in order to record travel logs, inventory, and data spreadsheets all within one comprehensive system. This not only reduces time once spent manually recording in logbooks, but it also allows for easily shareable data across the board and encourages transparency within the industry.