Kazakhstan implements RFID tech at borders

ASTANA, Kazakhstan, April 14 (UPI) -- Kazakhstan-based Science Technical Center says it will implement radio frequency identification cargo monitoring technology at Kazakhstan border checkpoints.

Science Technical Center, or NTC, has been contracted to install the cargo monitoring technology based on a platform designed by Maryland-based RFID sensing and control solutions developer Hi-G-Tek. NTC officials will implement the Automatic Delivery Control System, incorporating Hi-G-Tek outdoor data readers, handheld readers and reusable Hi-G-Locks, at several Kazakhstan border checkpoints between China and Russia.

The RFID cargo monitoring instillation is an effort by the Customs Control Agency of Kazakhstan to crack down on black market theft. The security initiative is also an attempt to increase commercial cargo traffic through the checkpoints and reap revenues through associated tariffs. With $2 billion in goods passing through the country each year, Kazakhstan is becoming a major commercial trade route between China and Europe.

"To expedite cargo traffic between China and points west, Kazakhstan understood that it needed to streamline the customs process, while securing the trade routes against black market theft to attract additional commercial traffic," Rashid Abderzakov, an NTC spokesman, said in a statement. "After evaluating several RFID solutions, only Hi-G-Tek met the requirements set forth by the Customs Control Agency. With its advanced wireless trade lane security solutions, Hi-G-Tek and NTC were able to deliver a solution that has led to cargo-related crime reduction in the region."