Container damage liability app launches

PEIR uses blockchain and digital image technology to allow users to prove they are not liable for container and trailer damage.    PEIR, a mobile application designed to allow users to prove a lack of involvement related to damaged shipping containers and trailers, launched Wednesday.
   PEIR was developed by TCompanies, which has a portfolio of firms that provide services to the transportation community.
   PEIR stands for photographic equipment interchange receipt. It is designed to allow users to save on costs by being able to securely document the state of the equipment when they received it or when they handed it off to another party.
   Through the utilization of blockchain and digital image technology, PEIR streamlines the inspection and documentation workflows into a mobile process that conclusively documents the condition of the equipment at the actual point of interchange.
   TCompanies argued that prior to PEIR, companies had little way to prove they were not responsible for damaged containers/trailers.
   Using mobile phones to take pictures of damages does not provide irrefutable protection, PEIR said on its website. “Not all mobile devices allow the date/time to be physically inserted onto the picture they take,” according to PEIR. “That feature is not part of the default camera app provided by Apple or Android devices. Other third-party apps could be utilized to imprint that date/time on the picture, however, that information can be modified utilizing Photoshop to reflect any desired date/time placing that time stamp in question.”
   TCompanies surveyed logistics and transportation executives in July and found that 35 percent of respondents said that in the past year, they had been asked to pay for container/trailer damage that they were not responsible for, and 60 percent said the reason they paid was because they lacked documentation to prove they didn’t create the damage.
   “After a year of development and another year of beta testing with trucking companies, depot operations, repair facilities, transfer yards and terminals, we are happy to launch PEIR today,” TCompanies CEO Tom Burke said. “The idea for PEIR came to me shortly after selling our intermodal trucking company that we owned for 10 years. For all 10 years, I felt the monetary pain associated with not having evidence that we did not damage a piece of equipment that we received in interchange and were forced to pay for repair. At one point, it took two-and-a-half full-time employees to research and handle all these damage claims, which was another cost that ate away at our bottom line.”