Exploring the Endless Possibilities: LoRa SatelliteIoT Applications for the Maritime Industry and logistics

Imagine for a moment that your company is delivering tens of smart containers in a ship from Rotterdam (Netherlands) to Boston (U.S.A) and through the Atlantic Ocean. In this scenario, your containers would be far from any suburbs or cities and, therefore, getting an adequate Terrestrial Network (TN) infrastructure for device connectivity is nearly impossible. The problem is that reliable connectivity is necessary to monitor the condition of your smart containers (temperatures, moisture, etc.).

This is where Apogeo’s satellite Internet of Things (IoT) solutions are a game-changer, and these applications don’t just apply to the maritime industry, but any work sites located in a remote/rural area, such as the agriculture, mining, oil & gas, and fleet management markets, could all benefit from space-based IoT communications.

Maritime Industry

Global trade is the lifeblood of the maritime industry. Without it, the industry would simply not exist. The shipping industry is responsible for transporting and delivering more than 80% of global trade by volume—roughly 11 billion tons annually. This is an almost unbelievable number, especially because this feat is carried out by only 50,000 merchant vessels.

Remember, the great toilet paper shortage of 2020 was not the result of the COVID-19 pandemic, but instead a direct result of an issue in the maritime supply chain.

The global maritime shipping industry is expected to register a CAGR of 10.01% during the forecast period 2018-2028. With this expected market growth, Apogeo is deploying the new LoRa-based connectivity in its operations to improve efficiencies and will also offer its customers proven, connected IoT solutions.

The need for satellite IoT for Maritime Industry and logistics

From the plethora of terrestrial IoT technologies, Apogeo’s sustainable Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWANs) seem the best option for blending space terrestrial IoT technologies on a worldwide scale. It enables robustness, low-volume, and cost-effective data transmission over hundreds of kilometers while keeping very low energy consumption for the end devices. They leverage a network architecture in which all the intelligence is moved towards a central server, allowing the development of cheap end devices.

Despite numerous technological advancements over the years, the maritime industry still faces several challenges that can hinder efficiency and safety.

The rising emphasis on throughout its entirety supply chain visibility, greater demands for monitoring and management of internal container conditions, and growing utilization of IoT devices by shipping companies are projected to drive the rate of expansion of the smart container market over the forecast period. The shipping containers have been engineered to control their internal parameters (for example, temperature, moisture, and pressure), enable real-time GPS tracking, improve assurances, and transmit status information that can notify operators of any possible cargo challenges along the way.
The data collected is autonomously fed into digital shipment records, which can be divulged with the client to deliver up-to-date tracking and used more accurately to predict arrival times at ports, allowing for optimized container unloading and transportation to the subsequent stage of the distribution process.

The primary reasons driving the growth of the smart container market are the increased popularity of IoT by leading market participants, IoT connected to the smart container for product monitoring, and data collection during the transportation process.

Apogeo’s growth and adoption of technological advancement in IoT Technology, more specifically on Signal Intelligence (SIGINT) to easy-to-use sensors & services with the layered architecture is going to bring a complete seamless network of solutions to the customer. Such networks are capable of communicating and auto-adapting to the changing requirements and conditions typical of a marine environment.