IVR Deconstructed

90% of world trade is carried out via the shipping industry.  Both imports and exports are heavily dependent on shipping, via air, sea, and even ground transport.  Millions of people rely on trade to receive food and natural resources that allow them to subsist as a society.

According to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), sea transport is the least environmentally damaging form of shipping, especially compared to ground or air shipping.

The maritime shipping industry generates trillions of dollars annually, and hugely contributes to the global economy.  Ships are somewhat pricey to build and must be constantly maintained and manned by a crew.  There are thousands of merchant ships around the world that operate internationally and transport every kind of cargo.

Merchant shipping takes place at the global level, with over 150 countries that are considered members of the international maritime organization.  Membership in the IMO means that countries are flag states, which indicates that they have agreed to follow all rules stipulated by the IMO.  This primarily pertains to commercial vessels that must be registered to a country and sale under a country’s flag, regardless of where they originate from.

Shipping vessels must be registered to a flag state, and vessels that do not sail under a flag and commit crimes in international waters are considered pirate vessels (see Shipping Piracy).

While maritime travel is fairly safe, shipping vessels must typically navigate some sort of choke point (a geographical feature that vessels are forced to pass through) to reach open water.  Many if not most vessels must pass through a choke point upon entry or exit into port, and must take all the necessary precautions to preserve their cargo and ensure the safety of the crew.

Naval choke points include the Hormuz Strait, the Straits of Malacca, the Panama Canal, the Suez Canal, the Bosporus Strait, the Strait of Gibraltar, Cape Horn, and the Cape of Good Hope.

Safety, security, and efficiency are all vital parts of maintaining a successful operation, and interactive voice response systems can help.

Crew members typically have at least one satellite phone aboard their ship to maintain communication with shipping hubs and receive directions or notifications about potential safety threats.  Those on land nearly constantly have access to some type of phone, whether it is mobile or landline.

AN IVR system could work reciprocally to transmit important information to the crew telephonically and via the Internet.  This system could be used vice-versa as well.

Loved ones could place a simple call in to an IVR that was tracking a specific ship’s coordinates to gain information about ship status and crew members.  Business managers could call in to track the progress of the ship and ensure that there were no problems with the cargo and that everything was going smoothly.  Consumers could even monitor estimated arrival time of their goods and services and stay informed about any updates that might be of interest.

The international shipping industry is vital to facilitating world trade and stimulating the world economy.  Integration with an IVR could go further to ensure continued safety and efficiency.

Pirates have terrorized the seas for as long as humans have sailed them. The allure of stealing shipments and ransoming hostages for fast and relatively easy money has drawn them from ancient times to modern.

In 75 B.C., Julius Caesar himself fell victim on the Aegean Sea to Cilician pirates from the Mediterranean coastlines of Turkey and Greece, who held him captive for ransom in the Dodecanese islet of Pharmacusa.

The pirates set the ransom at twenty talents of gold, about 1,400 pounds. Legend holds that Caesar insisted he was worth at least 50 talents, so the pirates raised the ransom.

After the pirates got their money and released Caesar, he gathered a fleet and went after them. When he caught them, he crucified them. (Ouch.)

In the Middle Ages, the Vikings were the most notorious and successful pirates in Europe. These Scandinavians terrorized coastal towns with lightning raids and even made their way up coastal rivers in their shallow-drafting (yet totally seaworthy) ships.

In East Asia, pirate fleets operated with impunity up and down coastlines following the retreat of the Mongol Yuan fleet in the 1300s.

For several hundred years, Chinese and Japanese and Korean pirates known as wokou plied the waters from Korea to the south tip of China. Some of these wokou included ronin—disgraced, masterless former Japanese samurai (some of the best-trained, fiercest fighters in human history). (Yikes.)

What is known as the Golden Age of Piracy lasted from the mid-1600s to about 1730. Increased overseas shipping, limited European navies and weak colonial governments proved too tempting for pirates, many of whom were well-trained former sailors in the European navies.

Much of the shenanigans of the Golden Age originated from or took place in the Caribbean, a haven for pirates during the era.

Maybe the most famous pirate of the Golden Age was Edward Teach—Blackbeard. Only active for two years (1716 to 1718), Teach established a legacy that carries through to today.

Known for his fearsome appearance (he supposedly stuck smoking fuses under his hat for the effect), Teach primarily used cunning and fear tactics rather than force to get what he wanted. At his boldest, Teach and his fleet brazenly blockaded the harbor at Charleston, South Carolina.

Blackbeard’s exploits proved too much, though. The Governor of Virginia eventually sent a force of soldiers and sailors after him. Led by Lieutenant Robert Maynard, the force fought and killed Blackbeard on November 22, 1718.

Elsewhere at this time, other governments were getting tired of the pirates too. Following the end of the War of Spanish Succession in 1713, European nations turned their attention towards hunting and capturing the pirates. The Golden Age of Piracy came to an end.

But piracy itself didn’t end, of course. Stay tuned tomorrow for part two (modern piracy).

In April 2006, Seattle port authorities discovered a cargo container on the MV Rotterdam with 22 Chinese nationals inside. They’d smuggled themselves across the Pacific from Shanghai, spending two weeks without light or fresh air.

According to the Seattle Times, the 40-foot container held blankets and clothing, food and water, tools for breaking out of the container and a makeshift toilet. The security guards who found them said the smell inside the space was “overwhelming.”

Smuggling episodes like this have been around as long as humans have engaged in international shipping. Sometimes it’s humans; most times it’s illegal goods.

Since the advent of the standardized cargo container systems in the middle of the 20th century, however, shipping has grown. About 90 percent of non-bulk cargo travels via standardized shipping containers. Smugglers have taken advantage of them.

According to the World Shipping Council, over 17 million containers make continuous trips every year on the almost 5,000 container ships in the global fleet. The U.S. alone receives about 35 million containers according to some estimates. That’s a lot of opportunities for smuggling.

In fact, the 22 Chinese nationals in 2006 was just one example just in Seattle. The Seattle Times also reported that 37 Chinese came across the Pacific aboard two separate vessels in another incident in 2000. It was the same kind of scenario, except when the ships docked that time three of the stowaways were dead.

Just a few days ago, USAToday reported that a ship smuggling Africans to Saudi Arabia sank in the Red Sea off the coast of Sudan, killing almost 200 people. Supposedly the ship had caught fire.

And as far as illegal goods go, who knows what the numbers really are. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), as well as other national and international bodies, are seeking to stop smuggling through tighter container control.

According to the UNODC, the global fleet transports some 420 million containers each year, of which authorities inspect only 2 percent.

“This makes smuggling via containers increasingly attractive for criminals and more challenging to detect,” commented UNODC head Yury Fedotov.

On consecutive days this April, units with trained dogs discovered 290 kilos of cocaine destined for Spain in a container of bananas and 1,000 kilos of cocaine hidden with pineapples on their way to Belgium.

Smuggling probably isn’t going away anytime soon, either goods or people. With tighter controls, authorities might be able to curb it. But as long as people are willing to ride 15 days in a container with no light or fresh air, it’s going to be hard.

Take a look down at your possessions.  Most of you are probably sitting at some sort of desk while reading this.  If you are like me, the scene on your desk is as follows: some sort of drinking glass, a cell phone, writing utensils, a notebook, a landline phone if you are at work, your monitor, and inevitably other miscellaneous items.

Or how about your wardrobe?  Jeans, pants, shirts, shoes.  If you take a look at these labels, you will see tags that say made in China, assembled in Malaysia, fabrique en France, realizado en The Philippines.

Most, if not all of the items on and around your person have been constructed and assembled in other locations.  Aside from the products you purchase specifically because they are manufactured and marketed locally, most items have had to travel before reaching your local stores.

So how does all this transport occur?  Shipping is the physical process of transporting goods and cargo by land, air, or sea.  Many products require multiple forms of shipping including some combination of sea, air, and land transport.

Many if not most of the goods we purchase, including food, have been transported from elsewhere.  The shipping industry has thus become a multimillion-dollar industry that is a vital part of commerce worldwide.

This week, we will be exploring various trends in both shipping and logistics, and how IVR can integrate with various applications to make the industry more efficient and streamlined.

Whether we acknowledge it or not, shipping is a vital part of our everyday lives.  Have you eaten fruit or vegetables in the last 12 months?  Chances are that the fruit came to you either nationally or internationally on a plane, train, ship, or truck.

In addition, there are a multitude of seaports and airports worldwide that process cargo, making both important points of national security.  Not only could cargo be dangerous, it could also potentially present various health risks if it is transported without being properly screened.

The shipping industry is heavily dependent on being streamlined and on time, and over the course of this week, we will explore how IVR can contribute to both supplier and client side efficiency.