Trailer Tracking
Time Has Come
John Bendel
Technology Editor
After years of testing and a few false starts, fleets are committing to one system or another and trailer tracking is proving its value even as it evolves, providing ever-more functionality.
In the past year, for example, Qualcomm returned to the untethered trailer tracking market it left in September of 2001. Commercial fleet giants like Schneider National and Swift Transportation have begun equipping their fleets with Qualcomm's T2 Untethered TrailerTRACS solution.
Meanwhile, Terion Inc. reported new commitments from large commercial carriers J.B. Hunt and Knight Transportation. SkyBitz, GeoLogic, GE Trailer Services and others have also reported increased fleet sales.
Those sales have led to demand for interfaces with popular trucking software packages. Recently, for example, GE's Trailer Fleet Services said it was creating an interface for software from TMW Systems Inc. SkyBitz, which announced a TMW interface last year, announced it was developing an interface for users of TruckMate software from Maddox Systems.
More innovations are on the way as trailer tracking proves its value, particularly to commercial fleet and rental fleet customers.
What follows are reports on how two fleets are improving operational efficiency with trailer tracking.
Knight Makes The Most Of Trailer Tracking Add-Ons
Knight Transportation Inc., Phoenix, Ariz., has been using trailer tracking longer than most other commercial carriers and is moving into its second generation of trailer tracking technology, which features more functionality.
Knight is a growth company listed on the New York Stock Exchange and has appeared on Forbes magazine's list of "The 200 Best Small Companies" for 10 years in a row. With revenues of $442 million, the company was the 49th largest commercial carrier in the country in 2004, up from 57th place just one year earlier.
Knight deployed trailer tracking from Terion Inc., Plano, Texas, four years ago and is now upgrading its entire trailer fleet to Terion's latest FleetView 3 system. According to Steve Grover, Knight's director of communications, Knight makes good use of new technology exclusive to the FleetView system.
"We're using a tractor ID device that communicates the tractor number back to that (FleetView) 3.0 device so we know which unit is attached to which trailer," Grover said. "When they disconnect, we know that this truck left this trailer at this location. It gives us a leg up on our competition. It gives better visibility of our equipment in real time so we know what's where."
The Knight fleet includes approximately 3,000 power units and 7,800 trailers. According to Grover, 5,000 of those trailers are already equipped with FleetView 3.
"We're using cargo sensors. That gives us what you'd call maybe a Doppler radar-type technology. They give us good information," Grover said.
Terion's cargo sensor reports the loaded or unloaded status of a trailer. The module mounts high in the nose of the trailer and consists of three distinct sensors. One looks out over the length of the trailer to the doors. The second looks straight down to the floor for cargo that might be overlooked by the long-view sensor.
But those sensors can be fooled if freight is stacked up against them in the nose of the trailer, so a third sensor recognizes that situation. When all three sensors detect all-clear, the unit reports the trailer empty. If any of them detect freight, the trailer is reported loaded. The load unit checks the trailer automatically at intervals and notifies dispatch if there has been a change of status.
"If my trailer goes empty, that creates an event that triggers a message. ‘Hey, I'm empty, here's the time and the date and here's where I am,' " Grover said.
Load sensors can be used to document detention charges, he added, "but I would have to say our ultimate goal is to get our equipment back on the road. Detention is secondary."
It isn't only unloaded trailers that can be on the road sooner.
"The inverse of that is the trailer goes loaded. The trailer calls in and says, ‘Hey, I'm loaded,' " Grover explained.
"You have a driver sitting in an area and you need a load. We now know that the customer has a load that's ready to go. He just hasn't called yet. You can call that customer and ask if it's ready to be picked up. It helps you be more efficient."
Grover said trailer tracking has enabled Knight to reduce its trailer to tractor ratio.
"When we started the trailer tracking venture, we were three trailers for every tractor. We're now running about 2.5 per tractor. So it's had a significant economic impact for us because we're a growth fleet. I can grow 200 tractors, improve my efficiencies and not buy as many trailers."
Grover said that Knight has gotten well past trailer tracking basics and is now profiting from the more sophisticated technology.
"We feel the cargo sensor, tractor ID and ancillary devices give us really good management of our fleet," Grover said.
National Distributors Opts For Satellite Coverage
National Distributors Inc., Sellersburg, Ind., tested trailer tracking units before deciding last year to install InSight Tracking from SkyBitz.
"We're a full truckload carrier. We run about 330 power units and 800 trailers," said Peri Standlee, senior development manager. "We run primarily from the Midwest to the Southwest, Mexico and up into Canada. We're international."
SkyBitz provides a technology similar to Global Positioning System (GPS) called Global Locating System, or GLS. The primary difference between the two is the manner in which locations are computed. A GPS unit uses data from the constellation of 24 GPS satellites around the earth to calculate its location. It then sends that location data to a control center that provides the location to the user.
A GLS unit also reads satellite signals, but simply passes that data on to the control center where the location calculations are done. The location information is the same to the user, but by moving calculations from the trailer tracking unit to the control center, SkyBitz greatly reduces the trailer tracking unit's power demands, which means longer battery life.
SkyBitz uses satellites for communication as well as locating, providing coverage even in remote areas.
Standlee said trailer tracking is helping National Distribution use its trailer fleet more efficiently. "It's helping us with detention. It keeps trailers from sitting," she said.
National Distributors has SkyBitz units report automatically once a day every morning. Of course, the units can be polled for a location any time, "if a customer calls and says I need to know where that trailer is right now or if we have a suspicion that it's been moved," Standlee said.
Trailer tracking has also benefited National Distributors' drivers.
"When we send a driver after a trailer, we know for sure it is there," she explained. Without trailer tracking, dispatchers weren't always sure. Drivers had to physically check customer locations.
"Drivers like it," Standlee said. "It reduces their running-around time. With the new hours of service in effect, they don't have time to be hunting for trailers. We can tell them where they are and they can go get them."
National Distributors decided on SkyBitz for a number of reasons.
"The battery life was very important to us. The fact that it was able to be untethered and the customer service is awesome. Their response to customer needs, whether it's functionality on the web site or whether I've got a problem and I call them, they immediately respond.
Standlee said the hardware was easy to install.
"That was another factor in choosing SkyBitz. Our shop does it," she said.
"We've got it on about 25 percent of our fleet right now," Standlee said. "Of course, we're looking to grow the number. My goal is to get it on all my trailers."
