11 . he US military didn't exactly have the UK haulage
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industry in mind when it spent an estimated Slam on its global positioning satellite (CPS) network which was declared operational in 1995. However, this cold war technology has revolutionised the world of navigation. Pinpoint accuracy is available to military users and the rest of us can take advantage of metre-accurate positioning anywhere in the word.
Combine this with the tumbling cost of powerful computers and the boom in mobile communication networks and you've got off-the-shelf tracking systems which are now falling within the budgets of most operators.
None of the hauliers CMcontacted regretted investing in a tracking system—they all said it was saving them time and money as well as solving operational headaches.
What you get depends, inevitably, on how much you are prepared to spend, but even the most basic tracking system offers a useful suite of applications. Most include PC-based mapping which shows you where your fleet is and what it's doing; you can also opt for a range of communication systems.
A messaging system can be bolted on, usually text-based, to send instructions to your drivers, but the biggest saving most operators reported was on mobile phone bills. No more ringing the driver on the Continent to get arrival times or longwinded conversations while he takes down the details of the next tip or pickup.
Included here are a range of operators using systems from the most basic up to those with all the extras. Also listed is a selection of companies offering tracking systems. These range from small operations right up to multinationals boasting their own satellites. So if you don't want to be tied to the American G PS you do have a choice, but make sure you ask any providers which satellite system they use.
JML Transport Based: Donegal. Ireland Tracking system: tod2End UAL has been using the End2End system since November to keep tabs on its mixed fleet of 16 vehicles. The company handles distribution and groupage work on domestic routes in Ireland as well as into the UK and the Continent. JML decided to try satellite tracking to cut down on the mobile phone bills it was incurring while trying to trace vehicles on the Continent to give customers accurate arrival times.
The falling price of tracking equipment in recent months prompted JML director Brid McLaughlin to make the move: "We first looked at tracking systems about three years ago and the cost was about f2,500 per vehicle," she says. "I reckon it wouldn't have paid for itself then. The cost now averages about Li,400-i1,600 per vehicle."
When McLaughlin chose End2End Technology for its system she didn't know that the company had developed it in co-operation with Dublin-based haulier Rag Trade Distribution, but she feels it has made a difference to their attitude to operators. "It gives them an edge because they are very willing to listen," she explains.
Two computers in the office control the fleet via a colour-coded display and instructions can be sent to the drivers. "It means we don't have to phone the driver—we send him the collection details and it comes up in the cab as a text message; he can look at it at his leisure, not while he's driving," says McLaughlin. So far, by avoiding long-winded calls to the drivers, McLaughlin reckons that the tracking system has cut the company's phone bills by a third.
Her advice to hauliers considering investing in satellite tracking is: "There's no point in buying it unless you have got the backup service. That's where End2End comes into its own."
T&R Phillips Transport Based: Swansea Tracking system: Minor Planet This general haulage company has been in business for more than 6o years and runs a fleet 01 40 vehicles on a pan-European operation. T&R, which installed the Minor Planet system three years ago, chose it after shopping around. "We found that they varied in price and complexity," says managing director lan Phillips. "Some were fully-blown telemetry systems which would show all of the truck's fiinctions on a screen in the office. We only need to know where they are, where they have been and how fast they are travelling."
This year Phillips is considering upgrading the system to be able to send messages as proof of delivery.
Savings have been achieved by simply not having to call drivers on Continental runs to find out where they are, says Phillips: "It also saves us time where customers will sit on a vehicle and not hand it back to you. We can also keep tabs on distances and drivers' hours."
Phillips has seen the price of tracking systems drop over the three years it has been operating the system and hopes to reap the benefits on renewal. "I will be looking for a slightly better deal or more equipment for the same money," he says. "The economics of it for small vehicles is difficult to justify, but with a big vehicle it certainly pays for itself. It also keeps the insurance companies happy. The premiums have not gone down, but they have certainly been maintained."
Phillips says that at first the system received a mixed reaction from his drivers: "One or two felt they were being watched, but they didn't really make a big issue of it." However, the system has proved its worth. "One particular driver on night shift was doing a sideline. He didn't know the tracking device was on board and after a period of some weeks it showed the pattern of what he was doing," says Phillips. "It's just a few had eggs. The vast majority of drivers have got nothing to hide."
The company also uses the system to blacklist destinations prohibited to drivers; it will highlight if. they are visited.
Curries European Transport Based: Dumfries, Scotland Tracking system: Alcatel Curries was one of the first operators in the UK to realise the potential of fleet tracking. The company has been using the Alcatel system for five years on its 53-strong Continental fleet. Its UK fleet is currently on the National Band 3 radio system and the company is looking at moving this to satellite tracking, either via NB3's FleetFinder or another system.
Over the time the company has been using the system Curries has seen a dramatic drop in the cost of the capital equipment, says fleet director George Henderson: "The first systems we installed cost about £4,000 for each vehicle; now it has dropped to at least half that."
The tracking system is supervised by traffic controller Alan Grieve. "It's the only means of contact with the driver," he says. "They don't have cell phones or anything out there. We type in anything that they need to know manually from here."
Grieve keeps an eye on the fleet via a map displayed on his PC. "It helps us to control the fleet better and we can tell at a glance where everybody is," he reports.
When Curries first introduced the tracking system the drivers were not as familiar with the technology as they are today, but their suspicions were soon overcome. "When it first appeared, like the tachograph, the drivers thought of it as somebody looking over you, but now they quite like it and it's easy to use," says Grieve.
Henderson sums up the main advantages: "The driver is not on the phone all the time and it gives the operator a chance to set the job up while the driver's in transit." porter to its present fleet of 18 vehicles ranging from six 3.5-tonne single-car carriers to 32-tonne nine-car units. "The expansion is frightening sometimes," says transport manager Paul Ov, Primarily he was looking for a way of putting messages into the cabs of his fleet. Drivers needed a list of registration numbers of the cars to be collected as well as pickup and delivery addresses. "The tracking side of it was an optional extra, but we found it more than useful," Owen adds.
The company tailed the Vehicle Solutions system ugust. Before that it was using mobil ahones, and the savings have been subs tial. It can be set up to receive automa lly updated reports but Owen advises t it's cheaper to opt for reporting on de d The system ha • o allowed him to make more efficient use o drivers' hours:" find out exactly howl ng for, so you can then take at you might otherwise not have been able to."
Having shopped around Owen was impressed by the selling style of the Vehicle Solutions rep: "He told us exactly what it could do and gave us a very good demonstration on it and then went away and let us think about it."
Another selling point for Owen is that Vehicle Solutions is willing to adapt the system to his requirements. The messages sent to the drivers include long lists of car registration numbers and these tended to get messy as the in-cab screens are smaller than that of the base PC.
"They changed the software so that I see exactly how the message is going out to the cabs," he explains.
Continental Express Transport Based: Waltham Cross, Herts Tracking system: Tele-Tracker Continental hxpress has been using TeleTracker on part of its zo-strong fleet of artic reefers for eight months, but director of transport Sam Turone is not interested in all the bells and whistles that come with it. "I've got the most basic one," he says. "All it does is tell me where they are. There's no point in me having a system that tells me how hard the driver pushes the brakes and how many emergency stops he does—you get all that for nothing in the truck now."
Continental F.xpress goes all over F.urope carrying food and produce, and Turone uses the system to save on the phone bills he used to incur while trying to locate trucks abroad. The cab phones are still used to get feedback from the drivers—Turone says this is important for their morale so he fights shy of sending them their instructions as text messages: "You've got no real contact with him; he's just a machine then. With us we are a family business and we like to keep it a bit personal."
The falling price of systems prompted Turone to install Tele-Tracker which. he says. works out at around koo a vehicle. Thi,
compares with quotes of 17,5oo a vehic_le few years back when he first investigated th possibilities of tracking.
Wort Based: Heston Tracking system Tardis After more than 40 years in the businest Allport has grown to be one of the bigget independent freight forwarders in the UK. Th group runs a fleet of around zoo; for the pat. year it has been trialling the Tardis system a the 23 vehicles in its airfreight division.
Allport collects, consolidates processe and delivers cargo into airports for a range c blue-chip clients; it also collects and deliver imported airfreight. "Many of our loads ar urgent and one of our most often askel questions is 'where's your vehicle?'," say distribution manager Mike Bowditch. "W may have made seven phone calls findin out where that vehicle was in the past—no\ we know instantly."
Tardis allows text messages to be sent to th drivers and the cabs are fitted with a unit prc grammed with too standard answers. Th control is notified once the message has beei received and again once it has been read.
Although the drivers treated it with som suspicion at first Bowditch says that it ha made their life easier—not least because rout advice and information on hold-ups hel] them avoid trouble spots.
Vehicles on nights away can be time zoned so that if they move when they're no supposed to either All port or the police cat immediately be notified.
In the pipeline are keyboard units for th cabs so drivers can have a two-way text convet sation with base, and an upgrade to giv ground-level mapping within and just outsid the M25. This, says Bowditch, will enable th company to pinpoint a vehicle in a street an show the premises it is visiting.
"When a customer comes in and sees thi it's one of the best selling tools we've got an it's saved me D,000 on phone calls pe month as well," says Bowditch.