Cargo protection reimagined

Cargo Patrol

Undeclared or improperly declared cargo has for years been a known issue in the shipping industry. In the past, no shipping line could provide detailed figures and no one accurately determine how much unnecessary risk was being placed on the environment and crew. In 2011 we set out to tackle this problem - with a bite.

Cargo protection reimagined

We decided to tackle this issue and find a way to visualize exactly the scale of the problem that the industry was faced with, and reduce the risks to your cargo as well as to the lives of our crew and vessels. It was from this initiative that we pioneered the development of a cargo detection software capable of finding undeclared dangerous cargo. The "Cargo Patrol" program has since won multiple awards, and has become the leading solution in the shipping industry.

Innovative and effective

Cargo Patrol scans the entire Hapag-Lloyd booking environment to detect undeclared dangerous or suspicious items. Today, we detect up to 600 potential hits per day of shipments that require a deeper investigation. With nearly 5,200 search terms in our system, we can now pinpoint at-risk commodities quickly. In 2022 and 2023, Hapag-Lloyd identified close to 8,000 shipments as improperly declared dangerous goods or other sensitive commodities.

Awareness is key

We haven’t just stopped there, though. Our goal is to make the shipping of dangerous goods as safe as possible. To do this, we've set out to create awareness in the industry amongst other shipping lines and organizations such as the United States Coast Guard, the Hamburg Water Police and even the airline industry.