The worldwide ocean going freight transportation infrastructure, known as the Marine Transportation System ("MTS") is the cornerstone of the global economic well-being. Approximately ninety percent of all cargo moves via the MTS. However, one need only look to the open movement of containerized cargo to find simple, effective, and efficient means of large-scale economic damage. The result is a conflict between security and efficiency in the MTS. Neither efficiency nor security can be sacrificed. Therefore, security monitoring and tracking technologies coupled with a centralized command and control infrastructure must be developed and deployed at the container level to secure the global supply chain and at the same time provide for greater supply chain management efficiency. Navigational Sciences, Inc. is strategically placed to implement a marine asset tracking system due to its expertise in GIS, asset tracking applications, global communications network development, and key assets in RFID technology developed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Information on the security, condition, and location of cargo will provide the intermodal shipping industry with the tools to combat terrorism, reduce theft, provide an audit trail, monitor the security of its insured assets, and empower the intelligence engines that protect our homeland
