Only last week at the Breakbulk Conference in Houston several panel discussions were addressing the lack of technological innovation in the Project Cargo and Breakbulk industry. 
A child of 9 years demonstrated programming a robot and demonstrating that technology doesn’t need to be complicated if the back-end technology is in place. This can be said for many developments but it has to be there to actually be used. In one panel discussion, it had been mentioned that corporations like Fluor are using FaceTime to report on loading and cargo handling operations. This may sound like a solution, however, there is no record of the handling after the fact, there are difficulties in doing this in remote areas, where a lot of projects are being operated, and internationally you will need to be roaming to actually do this. With all good intentions, this is great but not functional. And knowing this has just been an example, there is actually a new application being launched right now that does all that and much more.
The new mobile application is called SurveyCam. Its function is to record video of operations. The application is driven by a Checklist that needs to be followed during the inspection. Its checklist is preset per project or shipment by the administrator and is pushed to the surveyor or inspector, the person on site and ready to start the survey. Users will have a list of different operations they need to report on. Once a recording is done and the checklist is completed, either they or the customer will sign off in the application and the report is being submitted.
Once submitted, stakeholders will be able to see the complete report on their computer with a recording of time, place (with geo-map), checklist and actions that are taken on each item. Items that contain video are marked as such.
What is also unique about this application is that it will be able to send a direct claim report to your insurance company once the damage is identified and the damage checklist is completed. This not only saves time but also money for the insurance company and will immediately start the claim file.
The application is branded with your logo. This is the type of technology that Breakbulk has been talking about last week it seems to be a solution for many companies, shippers or project freight forwarders. The system has been designed with the help of Marine Loss Control department of the insurance company AIG.
