Danish company ConPDS has launched a new OCR-engine product, developed to allow application developers to integrate functionality for digital scanning of container codes into their own software packages with just a few lines of code.
The ConPDS OCR (Optical Character Recognition) engine is based on international container code standards, and works both online and offline. The software is designed specifically for Automatic Container Code Recognition (ACCR), with the sole purpose of scanning and recognising BIC (ISO 6346 standard) and ILU (EN 13044-1 standard) container codes, and ISO Size Type codes on BIC containers.
Images of the container codes can be captured using a smartphone or digital camera, and the software automatically extracts the data from the picture.
“There seems to be a huge market for Automated Container Code Recognition. The accuracy rate from generic OCR engines is not high enough, and therefore many companies still use handwritten or semi-automatic solutions,” said Morten Steen Sondergaard, CEO of ConPDS.
“That challenge has now been solved, and the result is an AI-based and very robust OCR engine software that will get the highest possible recognition accuracy.”
“Within our first few months, we have been in contact with major shipping companies, ports and freight handlers from several continents. As a stand-alone solution, the ConPDS OCR Engine is already being used for a range of tasks. For example, by MCI, APM Terminals, Samskip, and Nile Dutch Africa Line and others.”
