Real-time transparency in haulage

Client and consumer expectations across a plethora of sectors continue to rise. Clients and consumers now expect real time statistics and updates on a shipment to be made available on-demand. This information has a variety of benefits to all stakeholders and haulage operators must continue to invest in new technologies to meet this demand.

Real-time transparency is valuable to industry and consumers alike. A haulage operator's client - i.e. a pharmaceutical company - contracts a reputable haulage operator to transport a shipment of specialist medication from Germany to the United Kingdom. The pharmaceutical company is contracted by a number of hospitals to ensure that this life-saving medication is always available. As such, they require real-time transparency from the haulage operator to ensure that stock levels are maintained. This would involve providing the following updates: confirmation that the goods have been collected, progress updates on the journey to the border, confirmation that the goods have cleared customs and progress updates on the journey to the pharmaceutical companies warehouse. An estimated time of arrival must further be provided and any delays - such as an issue with clearing customs in the journey must be shared as a matter of urgency. The successful provision of this information allows the pharmaceutical company sufficient information to adequately control the stock of the medication and ensure that the life-saving medication is never out of stock.

For the consumer, the ability to track an item that has been purchased with an ecommerce retailer in real-time alleviates any anxiety over the delivery of the item and allows the consumer to become excited for their upcoming item. Updates of this nature are usually provided in tandem with both the ecommerce operator and shared directly via an app. In this circumstance, the haulage operator usually has no direct contact with the consumer and all updates are provided directly to the ecommerce supplier.

To meet these demands, haulage operators will be required to invest in technology and training. This technology will not only be able to accurately geo-locate a vehicle, but will also be required to calculate an ETA. Further, a solution must be devised to allow drivers to sufficiently and safely explain any delays that may be incurred throughout their journey. In addition, support staff will require additional training to be able to satisfactorily interpret and relay data received from tracking technology to other stakeholders. These investments are likely to incur significant time and financial implications, but in a world in which information is increasingly valuable, haulage operators may not be able to reasonably avoid this investment. However, tracking information will further have benefits for the operators themselves. For example, they will allow logistics managers to confirm that drivers are sticking to pre-agreed schedules and ensure that operators are driving safely and in a fuel efficient manner.