T42 IOT Tracking Solutions (LON: TRAC) has signed up the port of Ashdod in Israel as a partner in trialling its solutions. This is an important step in being able to roll out the base technology but it's not - not quite and wholly - an insistence that all traffic through Ashdod will be using it. This is perhaps necessary but not sufficient.
It helps to understand the basics here. So, the internet of things means adding connectivity to everyday items. Your ‘fridge can order milk for you, that sort of thing, you can alter light levels from your phone. OK - but an obvious use of such connectivity is adding a tracking device to something and then being able to track where it is. Apple AirTags are an example of this idea. The use case then becomes anyone with a logistics problem to solve. Of which a container port is a good ideal. They have thousands a day up to tens of millions a year of containers flowing through them. Each of which must be delivered to the one exact right person - whether the right guy to truck it away or the right ship to sail with it.
T42 IOT Tracking share price from London Stock Exchange
However, note what the agreement actually says - and what this implies. It doesn't say that T42 will now be used to track all shipments through Ashdod. Not at all. What it says is that T42 will wire up Ashdod (the readers for the tags) so that it can be used. The port will run a trial and also the port will recommend to shippers that they tag their shipments so as to be able to use the new system.
So this is far more a trial than anything else. On the other hand this also comes with a great deal of leverage. Any shipper using Ashdod will now become familiar with the T42 solution. That then means that there's - well, assuming it all works - a constituency to add the same readers, the same capabilities, to other ports.
It's a good announcement along the way but it's still no slam dunk.
