Patent ID: 8849723

Claim:
A method for controlling refrigerated shipping containers on the basis of container shipping orders comprising: energizing a plurality of refrigerated shipping containers, each loaded on respective transports, the step of energizing including energizing the refrigerated shipping containers loaded on a first plurality of transports in the form of ships or railroad cars capable of supplying direct electrical power to said refrigerated shipping containers; the step of energizing further including energizing refrigerated shipping containers loaded on a second plurality of transports in the form of vehicles with respective gensets each loaded on the second plurality of transports; dispatching from a database information concerning said plurality of said containers on said first plurality of transports during respective segments of a journey of said refrigerated shipping containers as determined by said shipping orders directly to said first plurality of transports; dispatching from a database information concerning said plurality of said containers on said second plurality of transports directly to said gensets; communicating from each of said first set of transports and from each of said gensets return information concerning a condition of said corresponding container back to said database; and adjusting the conditions of said containers on the basis of the information dispatched from said database; and disconnecting said gensets from the refrigerated shipping containers on said second plurality of transports and placing said refrigerated shipping containers onto said plurality of first transports, and placing refrigerated shipping containers on said first plurality of transports onto a plurality of said second transports and connecting gensets to said refrigerated containers on said second transports; and communicating with said database to associate the newly placed refrigerated shipping containers on the first plurality of transports with shipping orders pertaining to said newly placed refrigerated shipping containers, and to associate the newly placed refrigerated shipping containers on the second transports and connected to said gensets with the shipping orders pertaining to said newly placed shipping containers on said second transports.