Feb-March 2003

Tracking and telematics systems using always-on technology could be poised to transform the transport and logistics business, leading to "substantial rewards".

That is the conclusion of a pan-European survey of the telematics market, Transport and Logistics in the Digital Era Today and Tomorrow. It was supported by a range of organisations including consultancy Accenture and truck manufacturer Iveco, and was mounted by Centro Studi sui Sisterni di Transporto in Italy and Cranfield University in the UK.

The report says that 95 per cent of respondents expected to be using some form of tracking and tracing of goods within three years; and the use of Web-based systems for this function was expected to increase from 24 to 68 per cent in that time.

Tracking of vehicles themselves by means of GPS-based systems is expected double to 82 per cent, the report says, and automatic trailer location will treble to 55 per cent.

 

That's the positive side. However, the report found that only 20 per cent of freight operators across Europe had adopted telematics systems across their whole fleets so far, indicating that there is plenty of ground to make up. This compares with 66 per cent who had issued mobile phones across their fleets.

Furthermore, only 16 per cent operators currently offered consignment tracking down to unit level, and another 16 per cent offered no tracking at all.

Of those who were using telematics, 60 per cent said these had already brought cost reductions, while 84 per cent said they had improved customer service levels. Sixty-seven per cent expected high return on future investment.

The survey found that larger operators seemed able to recoup the cost of installing telematics more quickly than smaller companies; 47 per cent of large companies claimed to have paid off the cost within 18 months, compared with 18 per cent of the smaller ones. This is probably a reflection of their having more resources to allocate to analysis, and also of the fact that they tend to rely more on systems and less on the personal knowledge of operatives on the ground.

Bigger operators were also more keen on in-cab vehicle diagnostics. Fifty-four per cent of them expect to be using such systems within three years, compared with 29 per cent of smaller companies.

Interestingly, 28 per cent of respondents indicated that they were using telematics to monitor drivers' hours compliance remotely, and 61 per cent said they would do so in three years' time. Advent of the Working Time Directive represents a perhaps unexpected boost to the appeal of these systems.

The study was based on input from 122 companies in seven regions - Benelux, France, Germany, Italy, Scandinavia, Spain and the UK.

For further information, contact Marco Monticelli at Iveco on monticello@iveco.com or Sergio Clerici of Accenture on sergio.clerici@accenture.com.