An article transport material (30, 30a, 30b) used for transporting an article, said article transport material comprising: a base for loading the article thereon: non-contact communication means (37a, 37b) for conducting non-contact communications with a non-contact IC tag put on the article; and portable power supply means for supplying electric power to said non-contact communication means, characterized in that: a plurality of said non-contact communication means are disposed in the periphery of the base and the transmission direction of each of said non-contact communication means is directed inward above the base, so that a communication area of said non-contact communication means is set so as not to widen to any side of the base; the article transport material further comprises: a shock sensor configured to detect shock of vibration or collision received by the article transport material; and a controller adapted to control the non-contact communication means, wherein the controller comprises non-volatile memory; wherein if the article transport material receives shock of vibration or collision, the shock sensor is configured to detect the shock and to transmit information about the detected shock to the controller; wherein the controller is adapted to: acquire a tag ID from the non-contact IC tag put on the article; record the information about the detected shock transmitted by the shock sensor and the acquired tag ID in the non-volatile memory of the controller; and record the information about the detected shock transmitted by the shock sensor in the non-contact IC tag put on the article; and wherein the whole shape of the article transport material is formed like a palette shape for placing the article. a base for loading the article thereon: non-contact communication means (37a, 37b) for conducting non-contact communications with a non-contact IC tag put on the article; and portable power supply means for supplying electric power to said non-contact communication means, non-contact communication means (37a, 37b) for conducting non-contact communications with a non-contact IC tag put on the article; and portable power supply means for supplying electric power to said non-contact communication means, characterized in that: a plurality of said non-contact communication means are disposed in the periphery of the base and the transmission direction of each of said non-contact communication means is directed inward above the base, so that a communication area of said non-contact communication means is set so as not to widen to any side of the base; the article transport material further comprises: a shock sensor configured to detect shock of vibration or collision received by the article transport material; and a controller adapted to control the non-contact communication means, wherein the controller comprises non-volatile memory; wherein if the article transport material receives shock of vibration or collision, the shock sensor is configured to detect the shock and to transmit information about the detected shock to the controller; wherein the controller is adapted to: acquire a tag ID from the non-contact IC tag put on the article; record the information about the detected shock transmitted by the shock sensor and the acquired tag ID in the non-volatile memory of the controller; and record the information about the detected shock transmitted by the shock sensor in the non-contact IC tag put on the article; and wherein the whole shape of the article transport material is formed like a palette shape for placing the article. a plurality of said non-contact communication means are disposed in the periphery of the base and the transmission direction of each of said non-contact communication means is directed inward above the base, so that a communication area of said non-contact communication means is set so as not to widen to any side of the base; the article transport material further comprises: a shock sensor configured to detect shock of vibration or collision received by the article transport material; and a controller adapted to control the non-contact communication means, wherein the controller comprises non-volatile memory; a shock sensor configured to detect shock of vibration or collision received by the article transport material; and a controller adapted to control the non-contact communication means, wherein the controller comprises non-volatile memory; wherein if the article transport material receives shock of vibration or collision, the shock sensor is configured to detect the shock and to transmit information about the detected shock to the controller; wherein the controller is adapted to: acquire a tag ID from the non-contact IC tag put on the article; record the information about the detected shock transmitted by the shock sensor and the acquired tag ID in the non-volatile memory of the controller; and record the information about the detected shock transmitted by the shock sensor in the non-contact IC tag put on the article; and acquire a tag ID from the non-contact IC tag put on the article; record the information about the detected shock transmitted by the shock sensor and the acquired tag ID in the non-volatile memory of the controller; and record the information about the detected shock transmitted by the shock sensor in the non-contact IC tag put on the article; and wherein the whole shape of the article transport material is formed like a palette shape for placing the article.