The role of private wireless in the transportation and logistics industry
Every modern economy depends on a well-connected and efficient transportation system to keep it running smoothly. Whether they’re ensuring businesses can import and export their raw materials and products or helping people travel from one place to another – airways and waterways are the strong foundations holding up the entire transportation infrastructure.
The Port of Miami, North America’s largest container port, also known as the Cargo Gateway of the Americas, handles approximately 11.1 million in cargo tonnage and over 5.5 million passengers annually. Similarly, the Port of Southampton, the United Kingdom’s number one port for cars and cruises, manages approximately 900,000 cars every year and welcomes over 2 million cruise passengers. For these and hundreds of other large ports around the world that deal with enormous volumes of incoming and outgoing ships, passengers, and container vessels, the likelihood of congestion in their communications network is high.
Airports face a similar challenge in their networks as they attempt to manage thousands of passengers gathered in one place who are all trying to check in, scan tickets, view their flight status, and more, all at the same time. In environments like these, what network technology solution would ensure a seamless and uninterrupted workflow? The answer is private wireless.
Morning Consult recently conducted a study in collaboration with Verizon and Nokia in which it surveyed around 100 senior and IT decision-makers in the transportation and logistics industry. According to the survey, 48 percent of respondents believe private wireless can enhance connectivity between workers who are traveling and those in the office, and 40 percent believe that it can improve staffed operations. Furthermore, 38 percent of respondents say connecting assets wirelessly over private wireless networks increases flexibility and eliminates the need to install expensive CATx wiring to connect kiosks, biometric scanners, CCTV, and other devices and systems.
As it does for many other industries, private wireless technology provides a wide range of benefits to the transportation and logistics sector. These benefits are highlighted in the survey results from Morning Consult. For example, 60 percent of survey respondents cited reliable and secure connectivity for operation-critical communications as an important benefit of private wireless. The ability of private wireless to help monitor operations in real-time and respond quickly to critical events was cited by 58 percent as another key advantage of the technology. Private wireless also contributes to enabling real-time and uninterrupted monitoring of the status of equipment, assets, and infrastructure (cited by 55 percent). In addition, by leveraging the latest technologies to improve situational awareness and control remote staffed and unstaffed areas, port and airport authorities also contribute to improved worker safety and wellness.
The Private Wireless Network solution based on Nokia’s Digital Automation Cloud (DAC) provides a reliable and secure connection for ports, airport networks, highways, and railroads. It also provides real-time monitoring of operations, and asset tracking. Some of the other key features of the solution include remote operations, geo-positioning of vehicles, and IoT sensor analytics.
As the survey results show, private wireless is a now a key pillar that supports the load-bearing wall, ensuring everything stays intact. While 98 percent of senior and IT decision-makers feel confident there will be a role for private wireless networks in their business in the future, 39 percent plan to upgrade their wireless technology in the next year. These upgrades will provide rich connected experiences to more docks and airports and guarantee improved operational efficiency.
Watch this webinar for a glimpse of how the Port of Southampton is digitalizing its operations using Nokia Private 5G wireless.
