Box clever: Shipping container tracking

Being able to track the shipping involved in a product supply chain could help local and eco-conscious brands show consumers how far their goods have travelled. A year-long tracking project by the BBC is using gps technology to track the journey of a shipping container around the world. Although this experiment is being run primarily to visualise how far a shipping container goes in a period of time, it could inspire businesses to track their own products and let their customers see where their items are coming from. Could a transparency of transit lead to clothing manufacturers placing shipping miles tags next to the washing instructions? Similar to how TCHO has developed its brand, the BBC is exampling how brands can embrace modern media to demonstrate a new level of transparency to consumers.