FreightDesk solutions are today used to produce the detailed transactional
pictures of shipments needed to thwart terrorism and to combat smuggling, to aid in combatting
nuclear proliferation, to assess the risk associated with imported foods, to track hazardous
materials and other cargos moving in the domestic transportation network, to optimize and monitor
the movement of trucks into and out of ports and terminals, to screen transportation workers and more.
Our software solution underlies the largest operational maritime cargo intelligence system in the world.
We are leaders in defining and implementing the data and analytics-based "pushing-the-border-out"
paradigm that underlies our national effort to combat terrorism by using commercial data to screen
global cargo transactions.
Sample solutions include:
Global Trader
Client: United States Department of Defense
The Need
Every day, over 2 million commercial maritime
container shipments move between the world’s ports. The possibility of nuclear,
biological or conventional weapons and other contraband being transported in shipping
containers presents not only immediate risks to national security, such as the acquisition of
weapons by terrorist groups, but also long-term risks associated with the proliferation of sensitive
technologies. To identify potential threats as early as possible, the U.S. intelligence community
needs to collect, process and analyze enormous quantities of data about the world’s maritime shipments
in order to identify and track high-interest shipments, activities, organizations and individuals.
The Solution
Global TRADER – a system built around FreightDesk Technologies’
FDfolio™ software suite – provides accurate and timely information about the
movement of containers around the world. The system merges worldwide commercial
maritime data with innovative and traditional civil maritime intelligence methods and
capabilities to provide timely, actionable intelligence in support
of National Security Policy objectives and the Global War on Terrorism.
FDfolio™ collects commercial maritime information
from numerous disparate worldwide data sources, translates the data into an
open-XML format and loads it into a multi-terabyte Oracle data warehouse.
Analysts access this information using sophisticated database reporting, link-analysis and
other cutting edge data mining tools. Peak processing can reach over one million transactions
daily and has already processed in
excess of 50 million transactions within one calendar year.
Global Container Profiling Project
Client: Transportation Security Administration
The Need
The events of September 11, 2001 raised immediate concerns
that the U.S. did not have an effective early warning system adequate to assess the risks associated
with the approximately 50,000 individual shipments that enter the U.S. seaports every day.
The contents and circumstances of many imported containers were still largely unknown to government
officials, and only 2-3 percent were physically inspected. A fundamental change in approach
was needed if the U.S. seaports were to be protected from a variety of threats transported via
containers. A joint government-industry initiative was needed to coordinate actions in a cost
effective way.
The Solution
The Global Container Profiling Project (GCPP) defined a
risk profiling approach that could substantially improve the assessment of the
possibility that shipments and their containers in seaborne commerce might have been subverted by
terrorists, while minimizing the impact on seaborne commerce and the US economy.
FreightDesk partnered on this project with American President Lines,
Natural Selection, Inc., and Logistics Management Institute to design and prototype a
risk profiling solution that relies on a broad set of data generated in the normal course
of business to provide a more holistic end-to-end view of supply chain commercial transactions.
This new "pushing the border out" paradigm today underlines the nation's import
cargo screening strategy.
Operation Safe Commerce
Client: Transportation Security Administration, Port of Seattle/Tacoma
The Need
TSA’s Global Container Profiling Project (GCPP)
defined a fundamentally new risk profiling approach that could better assess
the risk that maritime shipments and their containers might pose a threat to U.S. seaports.
To confirm the technical and economic feasibility of such a risk profiling approach across end-to-end
supply chains, TSA needed to test the concept on major trade lanes using real-world business data
supplied by major companies in the industry.
The Solution
Operation Safe Commerce was implemented on the BV Solutions
Group-led trade lanes (Barby, Germany and Yokohama, Japan trade) with FreightDesk
providing core data collection and fusion software and system integration services involving
COTECNA, BVSG, Honeywell, Cargill, General Dynamics, Transcore and Image Automation.
This Operation Safe Commerce data platform was
developed using FreightDesk’s FDfolio™ application suite that collects and warehouses
shipment and container data throughout the supply chain lifecycle. FDfolio™ captures the data
using either an internet interface or via batch file processing of EDI/XML messages.
The system provides total end-to-end visibility of the container by capturing
the associated digital images and/or scanned x-rays, drivers’ credentials, RFID tag information,
and manifest information at the time of container sealing. Real-time tracking of the containers
is accomplished with GPS data passed via satellite. The wealth of data associated with each
shipment/container can be data mined to
identify supply chain security and efficiency improvements.
NAFITH – National Freight Information Transportation Hub
Client: Ministry of Transport, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
The Need
What does government do when port growth and transport
operations interfere with the tourists’ enjoyment of the local beaches?
The Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA), responsible for the Port of Aqaba,
Jordan’s major port and economic hub, faced this very problem. As the number of trucks queuing
to moving cargo in and out of the growing and important port rapidly increased, traffic
jams and pollution from idling trucks increased as well. The quality of life for tourists and
local citizens declined -- undermining the government's goal to make Aqaba a major tourist destination.
The Ministry of Transport arranged for the construction of
staging areas away from tourist areas, but needed a way to control the movement of the trucks to eliminate
queues and minimize the time the trucks spend in and around the port.
The Solution
FreightDesk developed, designed and piloted a Truck
Control System for ASEZA with grant support from the United States Trade and
Development Agency (USTDA). Built on FreightDesk’s FDfolio™ application suite, the Truck
Control System today schedules and controls all movements of trucks entering and exiting the port.
The project went from design to full operational deployment in three months, including full
support of an Arabic language user interface.
The result? Four months after deployment, the cost of a
trucking from Aqaba to Amman fell by 20% due to the system’s increased scheduling efficiency and
transparency. Congestion around the port has been eliminated and there is a measurable improvement
in traffic safety. Seeing these obvious impacts, ASEZA has elected to continue use of the
now mission-critical Truck Control System beyond the pilot.
The NAFITH system is today the largest such system in the Middle East.
Read More
Read detailed project description for Nafith TCS system.
FAS Freight Assessment System
Client: Transportation Security Administration
The Need
Packages and other air cargo shipments not
only move via dedicated air freight companies such as FedEx or UPS, but also
travel aboard aircraft carrying passengers. To guard against the threat of terrorists
shipping explosives or other dangerous materials on passenger aircraft, the Air Cargo Security
Improvement Act calls for “systems to screen, inspect, or otherwise ensure the security of all cargo
that is to be transported in passenger aircraft.”
As a result, the U.S. Transportation Security
Administration needs to work with the airline industry to identify and inspect “at-risk” cargo
shipments in a way that both addresses the threat and minimizes the cost, the operational burden,
and the impact on processing times to the carriers, shippers and consignees.
The Solution
The Freight Assessment System (FAS) – a system built using FreightDesk
Technologies’ FDfolio™ application suite – is designed to meet the U.S. Government’s need
for accurate and efficient targeting and inspection of individual cargo shipments scheduled to
travel aboard passenger aircraft using sophisticated risk-profiling, scoring and assessment.
FDfolio™ interfaces directly with
industry and government systems and also supports a dedicated web portal for smaller carriers
and indirect air shippers to achieve this objective. Air shipment and other data are collected
and submitted to FDfolio’s risk-profiling and scoring engine where a TSA risk score is calculated.
If the shipment is identified for inspection based upon the risk assessment, the
corresponding cargo is physically inspected.
PREDICT – Predictive Risk Evaluation for Food Shipments
Client: United States Food and Drug Administration
The Need
Contaminated pet foods and other imported foodstuffs have generated
many news headlines in recent months. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is responsible
for guarding the nation's food supply and other regulated products against tainted imports.
The volume of these products entering the U.S. has steadily increased with the emergence of global
supply chains. This complex, dynamic sourcing requires a fundamentally new approach -- one that adapts
to change and integrates available data to provide the best possible
analysis to support both front-line and back-office decision-making.
The Solution
PREDICT – a U.S. Food and Drug Administration system developed
using modules of FreightDesk's FDfolio™ application suite, is designed to ensure that food
imported into the United States is safe for consumption. PREDICT helps resource-constrained
inspectors identify high risk shipments using an innovative blend of artificial intelligence
(using evolutionary rules for pattern discovery), an in-memory rules engine for better performance,
open source intelligence and expert rules. By improving both the effectiveness and efficiency of
entry reviews and inspections, PREDICT helps FDA manage its available resources to minimize the the
potential risk in imported FDA-regulated products. The system can, for example, tell inspectors that
a container carrying "fresh broccoli" seems to weigh too little -- an indication that it's either not
fresh or not broccoli -- or whether a shipment came from a part of the world affected during its
production period by a hurricane-induced salmonella outbreak.
US Government Contracts
Seaport-e
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