Reaching the 700,000 mark was noted as an “important moment on the company’s path to creating the world’s largest smart container fleet” in a statement issued to commemorate the event.

Dr Volker Wissing, the federal minister for digital and transportation, further celebrated the anniversary by personally mounting a gadget on one of Hapag-Lloyd’s containers.

Commenting on the landmark, Wissing said, “Digitalisation offers great opportunities for the transport industry. One sign of this is the progress made by Hapag-Lloyd in building an intelligent container fleet. Such advances not only benefit shipping, they strengthen Germany as a location for innovation and contribute to our vision of a better connected and more efficient transport sector.”

Hapag-Lloyd CEO Rolf Habben Jansen added, “We are proud to be at the forefront of the digitalisation of container shipping. Our ‘Smart Container Fleet’ project is about transforming the industry and setting new standards for supply-chain transparency and customer service.”

The GPS-enabled tracking gadgets with inbuilt sensors and solar power also record shock events and environmental temperature while also transmitting data via the mobile network.

1.6 million Dry and reefer containers in the Hapag-Lloyd fleet will all have tracking devices installed. By the start of next year, the business claims that the great majority of the fleet will have the devices installed.