A study of RFID adoption for vehicle tracking in a container terminal

Purpose: Numerous studies suggest that Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology can provide improved container handling efficiency; however, there is a relative lack of research concerning tracking and monitoring of vehicle movement in the container terminal environment. This study therefore aims at assessing the feasibility of applying RFID for vehicle tracking purposes in a container terminal. Design/methodology/approach: This study makes use of a series of experiments in a container terminal in order to discuss the factors that affect the use of RFID in the terminal. The possibility and accuracy of using RFID in such a challenging environment is also investigated. These propositions are investigated by a means of case study. Findings: The experimental results indicate that RFID communication is good in the container areas which are nearly all the terminal area. However, in other areas such as the sea side and free area, the performance is not so good and 100% readability can only be achieved in 5m and 10m. Originality/value: The container terminal environment, with different transport vehicles for onward transportation, will affect the performance of RFID readability. Poor setup of the RFID reader and tag will lower the feasibility of RFID adoption as well as increase the cost. In order to address the challenges of Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management http://dx.doi.org/10.3926/jiem.412 23 implementing RFID in such an environment, this paper describes a series of real site testing experiments to study the RFID performance. This represents an original contribution to research and practice in RFID adoption in container terminals.