Colin Barrett, Vodafone Ireland's IoT manager. Image: Vodafone
Net Feasa’s IoT tech will use Vodafone’s global network to make freight containers easier to track and more cost-efficient.
Dingle-based IoT company Net Feasa has teamed up with Vodafone Ireland to launch a new intermodal smart container technology for the global logistics industry.
Using Vodafone’s global IoT network and Net Feasa’s IoTPass platform, the companies plan to offer tracking and data services for freight containers, with the aim of helping logistics firms save on transport costs and potentially reduce carbon footprints.
Net Feasa’s partnership with Vodafone Ireland will also boost the Kerry company’s international expansion plans.
It said its IoTPass technology will provide logistics companies with real-time monitoring data on containers while they travel on land, by sea or in the air. By tracking the container rather than the mode of transport, it aims to provide a unified dataset to offer visibility throughout the supply chain.
Pandemic-induced global shortage
Worldwide, 90pc of goods are transported via ship, truck or train with standardised steel containers. Of these, 89pc are dry containers, with roughly 25m of these giant boxes worldwide.
Mike Fitzgerald, chair of Net Feasa, said that a global shortage of containers due to the pandemic presents a significant opportunity to digitally transform the industry and create a smart logistical ecosystem.
“This not only has significant business benefits but also has economic benefits for public sector organisations in being able to better manage supply and demand of vital goods while supporting the transition to a greener supply chain worldwide.”
He added that Net Feasa has worked closely with Vodafone Ireland “from the infancy of IoT” and that this latest partnership will bring the benefits of massive machine-type communications to the future of supply chains.
Vodafone Ireland’s IoT manager, Colin Barrett, said that Vodafone’s 123m connections across 39 countries will help Irish SMEs such as Net Feasa to expand operations internationally and focus on new innovations in the growing logistics sector.
Net Feasa also recently teamed up with Tyndall National Institute to develop sustainable sensors that aim to boost the use of smart technology in the cargo industry.
