More BLLD info for those who are interested from 10/9/04:
By Philip Raphael
Staff Reporter
Richmond firm uses new GPS tracking system to keep goods secure
Richmond, British Columbia, Canada - October 9th, 2004 -- Bulldog
Technologies Inc. (OTCBB: BLLD)
Mark Patrick photo
John Cockburn is president and CEO of Richmond-based Bulldog Technologies, a
company which develops equipment that tracks container shipments.
Curiosity is indeed the mother of invention for John Cockburn.
After spending 30-plus years in the engineering and security business, a
simple drive home one day behind a container truck a few years ago has today
become an opportunity to launch a company and its product line of
specialized GPS tracking systems into a multi-million dollar industry
designed to keep truck and ship cargo secure under a watchful eye.
"I always wondered where the locks were on those containers," explains the
president and chief executive officer of Richmond-based Bulldog Technologies
Inc., adding he soon realized they didn't have any, except for a small,
dime-sized metal seal on the latch handles.
Cockburn said that most of the time three separate groups are involved with
the transport of goods by container-the trucker at the start of the journey,
the port and ship that the container is loaded on, and then another trucker
on the destination end of the trip.
"So, if you had a key, who would you give it to?" Cockburn asks. "It would
probably get lost the moment the container left on the truck. Plus, if
border authorities needed access to the container, they'd just cut the
lock." Faced with those facts, Cockburn did some research and found, not
much to his surprise that the container industry is rife with theft.
Since many transportation companies are self-insured and are not always
willing to divulge loss by publicizing theft figures, Cockburn said official
estimates of around $50 billion in stolen goods each year at ports all over
the world is a conservative figure. "It could well be double that," he
says. Given those sizable numbers, many ports and shipping firms are
anxious to find a system that can monitor goods whether they are in transit
or stored dockside awaiting delivery.
In trots Bulldog Technologies, which in 1998 started to develop equipment
that hooked into GPS networks which could track container shipments in
real-time, and immediately notify companies if any tampering has taken
place. "Of course, the way things are now, the only time you realize a
shipment has been broken into is when it arrives at its destination."
Cockburn says. "Then it's too late. We can tell right away if a container
has been opened, and know immediately, to within 30 feet, where it is." And
that can deter theft, it can also save money, since ensuring that truck
containers are tamper-free can speed up shipments crossing international
borders. And as the old saying goes, time means money, especially in the
trucking business.
"It costs about $20 an hour to keep a truck waiting to clear the border. And
when you look at the Mexican border where the waits are up to 12 hours to
enter the U.S., that's a lot of money, and time, that could be saved,"
Cockburn says. To help cover the security needs of the container industry,
Bulldog has developed a range of products with the moniker "BOSS" attached
to them, which can be fitted into a container to relay its position by a low
frequency radio signal to a GPS satellite. It has also produced off-shoots
for other sectors since theft problems also spill over to liquid goods being
transported.
Cockburn says one petroleum company Bulldog is in talks with is anxious to
stop the pilfering of gasoline from tankers in Saudi Arabia. He explains a
common practice has thieves drain off several thousand litres of fuel from
the unlocked tankers, then replenish the volume with water.
"They (oil companies) don't really care about what's stolen. That's pretty
much pennies to them. The problem is when that tanker ends up getting to a
storage facility and empties its load. It contaminates the entire system."
Bulldog's "Tanker BOSS" would not only show the location of the tanker, it
would monitor access to the cargo through flow sensors.
Bulldog currently has 18 pilot projects being undertaken at major ports and
with large companies across North and South America. One of them involves
retail giant Toys "R" Us which is testing the firm's "Yard BOSS" system that
tracks container movements within a storage facility.
All of that interest has helped push the company's profile into the
spotlight. At the recent U.S. Maritime Security Expo 2004 in New York City,
interest from the shipping industry, as well as national security agencies,
flooded the company's display booth as the post-9/11 world has opened up
another substantial market for Bulldog's equipment.
Officials stateside are concerned over tampering with containers which
arrive in the United States. Fears are terrorists could use them to ship
illegal arms or more dangerous goods. Cockburn says part of America's
security efforts is expected to include locked containers for all tanker
trucks.
"And that means tankers carrying pretty much everything, from milk and
cooking oil, to gasoline and water. They would all be considered hazardous
since they could be used as terrorist weapons."
On a smaller scale, Bulldog has produced a tracking system that is the size
of a pack of cigarettes called the "Mini BOSS."
"It can be sewn into the lining of a kid's backpack and can be used to track
the exact location of, say, your child. Because in some countries the
children of wealthy families are the constant target of kidnappers.
"And if installed in a car, it could tell you where your kids are at 1 a.m.
Or if you sling it in a shipment of cigarettes, if they are stolen, you can
tell where the goods are," Cockburn says.
Another application is adding the "Mini BOSS" to a courier package as a
value-added service that would allow the client to tell where their goods
are at any given time. While the idea of a portable tracking device may be
the stuff of James Bond flicks, most real-world examples are unreliable and
prone to interference, Cockburn says.
"Our one is so revolutionary that it can transmit through concrete and
steel."
Whether its guarding containers, gasoline tanker trucks, or keeping tabs on
your toddler, Cockburn is confident his firm is well on its way. "When you
look at the scale of the industries we are dealing with, it's huge," he
says. "There are 80 million registered containers is use around the world,
so that market is pretty big." |
