With a rise in trailer/cargo theft comes increased interest in remote asset management solutions among fleet managers who want to protect valuable cargo shipments. In the past year, high-profile news stories have reported valuable assets disappearing from trucks, rail sidings, ships and utility properties. According to a 2007 report by the FBI’s Major Theft Unit, cargo theft was estimated to cost the U.S. between $10 billion and $30 billion per year. That number is expected to rise as economic conditions continue to deteriorate.
The demand is rising not only among the shippers and carriers, but also among companies that have high-value assets in the field like utility and maritime companies. Some tracking users have seen recovery rates of 90% to 100%, according to Cambridge Strategic Management Group, the strategy division of TMNG Global. It was reported that one customer using a tracking solution recovered a load worth $1 million dollars within hours of its theft.
For an increasing number of fleets, the use of trailer tracking systems is becoming a normal part of doing business. These systems provide trailer identification, location and status updates for motor carriers to efficiently track and manage their assets.
Untethered trailer tracking systems are comprised of communications and computer technologies for tracking a trailer when it is connected to and disconnected from a tractor. These systems use satellite-tracking Global Positioning System (GPS) technology and, in some cases, cellular and wireless communications to monitor equipment and report to a carrier’s enterprise management system. For refrigerated trailers, systems also monitor and control critical refrigeration unit data, such as cargo temperatures and reefer fuel levels.
A number of suppliers offer trailer-tracking solutions today, including Fleetilla, GE VeriWise, PAR Logistics, Qualcomm, SkyBitz, StarTrak and Transcore, to name just a few. While each supplier’s technology differs, most of the solutions offer a common set of benefits. For example, tracking systems can improve operational efficiencies, optimize trailer utilization, increase detention billing, enhance customer service and even help track stolen trailers.
As a growing number of fleets will attest, trailer tracking system are proving to be a wise investment for their ability to help monitor, manage and optimize dry and refrigerated trailer fleets. Providing knowledge that is crucial for better control of trailer assets, these systems are a means of effectively increasing efficiency.
Asset management
Drivers, especially in refrigerated operations, also are responsible for monitoring trailer activity. Addressing the need to take them out of that equation are systems like the
ReeferTrak RT6000 wireless monitoring and control system for Carrier Transicold and Thermo King refrigeration units. The system is offered by StarTrak Systems (www.startrak.com), a subsidiary of Alanco Technologies Inc. that is a provider of GPS tracking and wireless asset management services for refrigerated trailers, trucks, railcars, and containers.
“RT6000 can increase efficiency and reduce costs in the refrigerated supply chain through the wireless monitoring and control of critical reefer data,” says Tom Robinson, executive vice president at StarTrak. “Using any combination of communications platforms, RT6000’s temperature management and load protection capabilities offer active reefer monitoring that leads to improved efficiency and productivity, and lower costs, for refrigerated and combination dry van and reefer operations.”
Standard capabilities of RT6000 include GPS tracking, reefer unit monitoring of all alarms, reefer operational status and battery condition monitoring, and complete two-way remote configuration of single and multi-temperature multi-zone trailers. RT6000 also features a fuel monitoring capability that detects fuel use, rapid fuel loss, refuel events, and tracking for accurate assessorial fuel usage. StarTrak’s ReeferFence interface, an onboard geofence capability, allows users to create and remotely load thousands of geofence points and track and manage assessorials and trailer dwell times.
Exel Transportation Services, based in Westerville, Ohio, has deployed 500 ReeferTrak systems on its existing fleet of refrigerated intermodal trailers. Because Exel’s trailer fleet travels by intermodal railcar for much of its shipment, the solution’s fuel monitoring and control capabilities permit more efficient transportation management.
Visibility
ReeferTrak is effective in this environment because intermodal shipments occur largely without company drivers, and the system identifies when shipments change handling responsibility. This visibility permits customers to better manage the quality of the shipment by remote control and measures the operational performance of third parties when they are in control of the shipment.
Technologies that eliminate the need for hands-on monitoring and tracking, DriverTech’s Scott Lemon notes, are like the successful statistical process control methods used for many years in manufacturing operations. Those tools establish parameters so operators only have to deal with exceptions.
Whether there is not a driver, as in the case of intermodal trailer movements, or in a traditional over-the-road operation, technologies that eliminate the need for hands-on monitoring are enhancing productivity and efficiency, improving safety and lowering costs. FE