1. A system for providing robust communications for a container monitoring system for a plurality of containers comprising: a short range wireless communications device associated with each container, wherein each short range wireless communication device comprises a transmitter element and a complementary receiver element; at least a long range communication device communications device associated with each container; and a control element which dynamically determines a plurality of short range wireless communications channels between the short range wireless communication elements located on the plurality of containers using a peer-to-peer control method.