Maersk, the world’s largest shipping container line by market share, has unveiled ‘Captain Peter’, its new virtual assistant designed to enhance its Remote Container Management (RCM) platform.
According to a statement, ‘Captain Peter’ is part of a wider update to Maersk’s RCM platform, which is currently being tested by a group of select customers. The carrier expects all technical improvements to be integrated by the second half of 2019.
‘Captain Peter’ will initially send up-to-date information via customers’ preferred channel, such as SMS or email, on reefer container temperature and atmosphere, as well as a timeline on its end-to-end journey.
Meet Captain Peter. Our new virtual assistant for the next evolution of Remote Container Management (#RCM). https://t.co/IZ4CWauVxU #digitization #AI #virtualassistant
— Maersk (@Maersk) February 8, 2019
Once the container has reached its destination, ‘Captain Peter’ will also monitor its status and send an update to the customer. Maersk has said that, in time, it expects the assistant to send customers information configured to their specific needs.
A recent insight from PTI insight explored the rise of reefer shipping
The news followed a similar announcement made by Maersk subsidiary Hamburg Sud that said it intends to utilize RCM to give its customers 24/7 container and cargo visibility, a story PTI covered.
Anne-Sophie Zerlang Karlsen, Head of Global Reefer Management, Maersk, had this to say: “Our goal is for the RCM product to look and feel like your favorite smartphone app.
What are collapsible containers and what is the case for them? Find out by reading a Port Technology technical paper
“There is still a lot of paperwork and difficult processes in global trade. Captain Peter will help take care of some of this complexity, by seamlessly engaging with the customer from end to end in the supply chain.
“With the number of active users of the RCM platform constantly growing, the aspiration is for Captain Peter to gather enough information to be able to predict potential cargo damage and provide configuration suggestions before containers are shipped.”
Maersk launched RCM for customers in September 2017 and currently has 270,000 reefers equipped with the machine-to-machine (M2M) technology. 70% of its reefer fleet is tracked by RCM.
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