OYSTER BAY, NY - Anti-terrorism efforts may give electronics a boost as U.S.  Customs aim to speed processing of incoming shipments. That could give RFID an edge in the battle for the electronic container tracking market.

Customs recently gave indications it will grant shippers meeting security guidelines expedited processing at U.S. ports. According to a new study by research firm ABI Research, continuing government programs will be the main impetus for electronic container tracking.

CBP is taking C-TPAT a step further by adding another tier of security, dubbed "C-TPAT Plus." This new program offers shippers immediate turnaround with no inspection upon arrival, in exchange for implementing more stringent requirements. These new requirements include technologies that can monitor tampering from the point of origin and provide inspectors with a record of events.

"This heightened level of support will boost electronic tracking of incoming containers," notes ABI analyst David Schrier. "But a government mandate, rather than voluntary provisions, will be the only way the industry can realize significant volumes of electronically-tracked containers in the near future."

Electronic container tracking involves such technologies as RFID, GPS, cellular, satellite, ultrawideband, Bluetooth, barcode and optical character recognition.

According to ABI, myriad technologies have been developed for container tracking, but none of them have been commercially implemented to any great extent. Says Schrier, "The mass market devices will be those that can provide basic electronic supply chain management at a reasonable cost while working reliably within the port environment."

While RFID-based solutions have met requirements for military container tracking, the Wal-Mart and DoD mandates have been slow to take form. This created a lag in the RFID industry as a whole, and slowed the adoption of container tracking across other industries. However, the study finds that there will be a significant market for RFID-based commercial container tracking.