Development of an IoT-based container tracking system for China’s Belt and Road (B&R) initiative

To ensure the successful implementation of China’s Belt and Road (B&R) Initiative, it is essential to enable the real-time monitoring of containers’ locations, prevent theft during cargo delivery, ensure more efficient logistics management and reduce carbon emissions. For this, it is vital to have an economic and effective system to track and control containers across multiple countries. However, this requirement cannot be met by today’s container tracking systems because they are either limited within the borders of each country or expensive to employ internationally. This study thus presents a framework for an IoT-based container tracking system that enables users not only to grasp the international flow of container movement with one check but also to achieve smooth cross-border procedures. To verify the system’s performance, an empirical test was made for an actual container shipped from Korea to Poland. The test results showed that the system could successfully track the location of the container in real time across international borders. Last, this study discusses the policy development and international cooperation that should take place to enable the introduction of this container tracking system.