Tacoma Tests Rail Tracking.(Port of Tacoma)

BYLINE: Bill DiBenedetto

It''s a brave new world indeed when a cargo container can send you an e-mail that tells you where it is.

The Port of Tacoma is testing a global positioning system tracking device that could take supply-chain visibility for intermodal containers heading to the Midwest and the East Coast to a new level.

Robert Collins, the port''s manager of transportation and supply-chain planning, said the system is among the first - if not the first - developed for tracking containers inland on rail from a U.S. port.

The system allows Port of Tacoma intermodal planners to better understand inland rail issues and, ultimately, work …