Washington State Transportation Center

Freight and Technology

Northbound In-bond System | Southbound In-bond System | Intermodal Data Project | Electronic Seal Expansion | Overviews

Background     

Washington’s location in the northwest corner of the continental United States provides the state with a number of trade advantages. Washington’s ports are closer to Asia than any other major American ports, and the state shares an international boundary with the United State’s largest trade partner, Canada. In addition, many goods bound for Alaska travel through Washington. As a result, one in four jobs in Washington is dependent on trade.

Recognizing the importance of this link, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) developed a series of innovative technology systems designed to facilitate the commercial movement of goods while addressing growing security concerns. These systems, developed in partnership with wide range of public and private organizations, typically use radio frequency identification transponders (often called tags) to transfer freight information, facilitate inspections, and monitor commercial vehicles and their drivers and cargos.

Additional Resources

Northbound In-bond System      

In 1997, WSDOT received funding from the U.S. Federal Highway Administration to apply ITS technologies to border operations at the Washington /British Columbia border. WSDOT hired the system integration firm of TransCore. Project partners included the ports of Seattle and Tacoma, U.S. Customs, several maritime shipping lines, and British Columbia’s Ministry of Transportation (MoT).

The resulting system is designed to monitor and facilitate the movement of northbound trucks carrying containerized, in-bond freight through the Blaine/Douglas commercial port of entry. This border crossing is approximately 100 miles north of Seattle and is the fourth busiest truck crossing on the U.S.-Canada border. In fact, it was used in 2001 by more than 900,000 trucks, a doubling of truck traffic since 1991. Because enforcement agency staff levels at this crossing have not increased at the same pace, long queues of commercial vehicles are a frequent sight at the Blaine border crossing.

This project employs a transponder tag to track in-bond containers trucked from the ports of Seattle or Tacoma into Canada. The tags, which are the same tags used for Washington’s popular freeway speed weigh-in-motion system, are installed in the cab of legal, registered trucks deemed "safe" by the state. The system utilizes the unique tag serial number to reference shipment, carrier, and vehicle credentials.

Automatic vehicle identification (AVI) (transponder) readers are installed at the exit gates of the American President Lines terminal at the Port of Seattle and of the Maersk Sealand terminal at the Port of Tacoma. As the commercial vehicle exits, these gate systems detect the tag, and software references the container and in-bond information and posts it on the project’s web site. The system also alerts U.S. Customs and other users that a container has left the port and is heading north. AVI readers installed at weigh stations along I-5 provide additional en-route information.

An advanced AVI reader installed a quarter of a mile south of the border gives U.S. Customs Inspectors at the Blaine commercial crossing sufficient time to preview the truck's in-bond transaction status before it arrives. The inspectors may then allow the container and truck to pass through the border with little or no delay. A final reader at the border automatically clears out the bond on the shipment and marks the cargo as exported. The responsible carrier is simultaneously notified of the exportation. This automatic process helps to eliminate ongoing problems associated with “lost” in-bond shipments and paperwork errors.

In addition to AVI hardware, the system uses the Trade Corridor Operation System (TCOS) information management system (found at www.transcorridor.com). This Internet-based system links the AVI readers, the shipping line’s information system, and U.S. Customs’ Automated Manifest System (AMS). TCOS is being operated in a service center in San Diego by WSDOT’s system integrator (TransCore). For security and privacy protection, information from the TCOS is available only to authorized, registered users.

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Southbound In-bond System (Phase 2)      

The Southbound project is an evolution of the Northbound in-bond project. This phase focuses on in-bond shipments in containers on trucks traveling southbound from Canada to the ports of Seattle and Tacoma, where these containers will be placed on vessels for export. WSDOT and the British Columbia Ministry of Transportation (MoT) jointly manage this project, which is supported through the International Mobility and Trade Committee (IMTC) work program. Other funds have come from WSDOT, BC MoT, the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, Transport Canada, and the USDOT.

The Phase 2 system uses the same transponders and, as much as possible, the same software as the Phase 1 system. The responsible Canadian shipper creates a container in-bond transaction by using the exporting (southbound) carrier’s bond. This in-bond transaction permits the containers identified under the transaction to cross the border within a 5-day period. The transaction is activated with the transponder's detection of the container crossing the border at Blaine and is closed upon the detected arrival of the container at the port.

The transponder equipped, registered, commercial vehicle carrying the container is detected by AVI readers at the inspection booths in the Blaine commercial crossing, and information is posted on the project’s web site and to U. S. Customs. Similar to Phase 1, that information includes the location, date/time, in-bond number, container number, and other manifest and vehicle numbers associated with this transaction, along with the transponder serial number that is used to identify the vehicle and shipping agent. The manifest information is accessible to U.S. Customs Inspectors before the container’s arrival at the Blaine Port of Entry. Canadian Customs Inspectors are able to use the transponder’s unique identification number for their export processes. As with the Phase 1 system, verification that the southbound containers have exited the U.S. automatically clears out the bond.

This project is also funding a truck staging area in British Columbia at the approach to the U.S. Customs commercial facility at Blaine. This staging area was designed with the possibility of adding special lanes for the expedited movement of transponder-equipped commercial vehicles.

Additional Resources

Intermodal Data Project      

This project is aiding FHWA’s effort to link information technologies in the intermodal freight industry. The FHWA believes that sharing information along the chain of intermodal goods movement will improve system reliability and facilitate the movement of freight. As part of its program, the FHWA solicited technology-oriented projects from regional consortia of public and private intermodal freight organizations. WSDOT coordinated a successful application and received support for the Intermodal Freight Data Project.

A consortium of Puget Sound public and private organizations is now involved in the project. Members include WSDOT, the Puget Sound Regional Council, the Port of Tacoma, the Port of Seattle, Maersk-SeaLand, American President Lines, Westwood Shipping Lines, U.S. Customs, U.S. Department of Agriculture, a private company manufacturing electronic container seals (eLogicity), and the Washington Trucking Association.

The project has developed and is testing the following three data links:

  • the use of disposable electronic container seals to track containers on trucks along the intermodal freight chain

  • the use of lower technology devices such as video cameras and the Internet to provide traveler information about roadway congestion leading to a port’s gate

  • linking of the many ITS systems in the region to collect freight data to support local and regional freight planning.

Additional Resources

Electronic Seal Expansion Test     

Overview

This project is a Field Operational Test (FOT) of a transponder security seal system for marine cargo containers. This project, funded by the USDOT and Washington State DOT, expands on a previous deployment of electronic container seals. The first deployment, also funded by USDOT and WSDOT and completed in Washington State and British Columbia, tested a disposable, electronic transponder (the eSeal) that replaces the traditional mechanical container door seal. The system included associated hardware, software, and an Internet communications backbone. The eSeal system was evaluated as a tool for increasing the security of containerized cargo movements and for tracking containers both in ports and along roadways throughout the freight supply chain.

This latest FOT, a collaborative Canadian and American effort, is evaluating technologies similar to those tested in the first eSeal deployment. However, unlike the initial deployment, which was primarily conducted domestically, this FOT is exploring international end-to-end container flows. In addition, this FOT is oriented more toward the development of an integrated security system, of which the seal is just one element.

The overall objective of this FOT is to evaluate the ability of a technology to both increase the security of container movements and improve the documentation and processing of intermodal freight. More specifically, this deployment is testing the ability of the container door seal transponder to accomplish the following:

  • increase security by electronically monitoring and indicating, and perhaps recording, the time, date and location of an intrusion into a container

  • provide enforcement agencies and shippers more accurate and immediate information about a container’s identification, contents, chain of custody, and travel patterns

  • reduce the processing time and number of errors associated with documentation, inspections, and intermodal transfers of containers

  • provide a consistent source of intelligent transportation systems data that can be used for freight-oriented traveler information systems, incident management, and policy analysis.

Additional Resources

Overviews     

Revised February 23, 2006

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