Zbox containers successfully completed the first part of the trial shipment

As we discussed in our article about innovation, the focus has always been on logistics innovation because of the large-scale impact it has on the economy.

And we explained there is no single path to an innovation process, but each process represents a successive development of stages that are fulfilled.

After obtaining all the necessary requirements, our Zboxes embarked on their first trip on board. This corresponds to an innovation process phase in which “the solution” (the Zboxes) is ready to use and can be launched to the market. The solution is developed, prototypes are built and tested under real conditions in order to obtain full feedback.

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Objective of this first trip

The Zboxes are part of a large innovation project that requires rigorous compliance with each of the stages until it is time to launch them on market. 

In this first stage of trials, we built the first units, certified them and now we put them to test on this first trip. 

The idea was to test the first container units on a real trip and to corroborate the operation, the logistical process and other hypotheses raised during the project’s development.

Zboxes route

Five folded and stacked containers traveled, considering that it is the same size as a standard container and one container unfolded and loaded.

The trip was followed by a tracking page on the Internet. At some points, due to lack of information, we were able to estimate the location based on the boat’s speed.

First thoughts

Speaking with Roberto Fernandez, Commercial Director of Navlandis and one of the people who was in charge of the trip, we can conclude that:

• Not much can be said about the trip, and that is precisely the challenge of the Zbox, and it is that at no time did it produce anything that was not exactly like a conventional container. 
• It was known that the unfolding process was not going to behave any differently, but the expectation was focused on the folded pack (5 containers), which in the end have been handled as another container, as expected. 
• The first visual checks indicate they have not suffered any damage both en route and in unloading and loading (both here and in Guinea) and it is expected that in the coming days the technical checks will not find any alteration, which would enable them for the second trip

We are really satisfied with the results so far and continue to await the final conclusions we will obtain after a much more complete analysis and with results of the technical verifications.

If you want to learn more specifically about the Zbox characteristics, you can download our free use case below.