Long-haul shipping: the IoT project of the year 2021 participants

Long-haul shipping of goods by road is one of the most extensive industries that uses satellite monitoring. But today, for efficient shipping, it’s often not enough to know only the vehicle’s location, which is one of the trends that we distinguished while evaluating the pool of projects submitted for the competition.

Carriers want to ensure that the transported cargo will be delivered to its destination on time and safely by the most profitable route and at no extra cost.

Explore this selection of projects from the IoT project of the year 2021 competition to know how to prevent containers from sitting around in the warehouse and how telematics simplifies the interaction of customers and contractors in transport operations. Additionally, you'll know how to ensure cargo safety and safe driving of trucks, as well as reduce the load on dispatchers and accelerate the processing of transport documents.

1. The platform for organizing road transportation

THE NOMINATION WINNER

Tetron (Russia) created a Wialon-based unified platform Transfort for organizing road transportation for a large transportation service provider ResursTrans LLC.

The solution enabled uniting all the information for customers, contractors, dispatchers, and drivers in one place. It is now possible to search for orders, find contractors and monitor the progress of transport activities via a mobile and web application.

The automated information exchange between the customer and the contractor, and the ability to integrate the platform with other accounting systems, such as 1C and SAP, helped the client improve work processes, cut down the time costs, and reduce the workload on dispatchers. In addition to total control over the completion of transport works, the Transfort service offers a continuously updated database of reliable partners and a tendering system, which helps reduce transportation costs.

2. Cargo theft prevention using smart locks

The Wialon partner Skypatrol developed a solution to prevent cargo thefts for the Mexican company Transportes Alba, which is involved in transporting sports apparel and goods.

The solution consists of a tracker, an electronic lock for the vehicle’s door, and an application for biometric face scanning. With the help of Wialon, the client monitors the location of their vehicles. After recognizing a person's face and confirming that they are on the list of authorized employees, the mobile application sends a command via an API request to Wialon to lock or unlock the door. As a result, the client received a tool that ensures control of the entire shipping process and allows only authorized employees to work with cargo.

3. IoT system with BLE technology for fleet management of large international carrier

Tesla Smart (Russia), a developer of new wireless BLE devices, created a comprehensive solution for the major Russian carrier Globaltruck.

Tesla Smart created a single solution based on Wialon Hosting for monitoring customer’s vehicles, arranged a centralized purchasing of single-type hardware, and equipped trucks and curtain-sided semi-trailers with monitoring terminals that have an option of CAN bus data reading.

Tesla Smart specialists installed proprietary BLE sensors on curtain-sided trailers and refrigerators to monitor the temperature conditions inside trailers during goods transportation. The partner integrated the solution with 1C and configured retranslators to allow the customer to work with the necessary third-party software. As a result, the client obtained a single monitoring platform for all companies within their holding group. Now it has become cheaper and easier to receive data on the vehicle fleet, as well as monitor the vehicle’s state and the safety of goods during transportation.

4. Monitoring Coca-Cola containers in Papua New Guinea

MasterSystem Technologies Ltd (Papua New Guinea) submitted a solution for the competition developed for the distributor of non-alcoholic beverages, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners.

The client faced the problem of monitoring the location and security of cargo containers, the complexity of planning trips, and the need to pay detention and demurrage fees.

To solve these problems, the integrator equipped all of the client's containers with trackers. Data from them is sent to Wialon and then displayed on a custom dashboard for real-time viewing. Automatic reports were also configured for the client to get information on moving containers and their travel time, issues with trackers, and more; all the data is available in real time.

5. Tracking cargo transportation in Western Africa

For the Ivory Coast Chamber of Commerce and Industry, TOUREX CORPORATE (Ivory Coast) developed a solution that ensures safe shipping of goods between West African countries and compliance with the Inter-State Road Transit convention.

The company equipped trucks with e-locks, the opening/closing of which can now be monitored remotely. All the roads that are allowed for goods transportation were imported to Wialon to control the route following. In case of route deviation or leaving the authorized geofence, a notification is sent to the dispatcher and the police.

The Eco Driving module made it possible to control driving safety. Automation turned out to be an additional advantage of the solution, resulting in accelerated vehicle registration and document processing.

6. Logistics platform and transportation aggregator

To solve the issue of monitoring carriers and cargo transportation at LA Cargo and Transport Ltd, the Wialon partner Expert Telematica developed a logistics aggregator Cargo and Transport. It is a multi-user platform where you can search for freight contractors, track cargo transportation and cargo handling.

To implement the solution, all vehicles are equipped with telematics hardware sending data to Wialon. Then, the information goes to the logistics aggregator where users can view it. For more precise control over the transportation process, Wialon reports were also configured. A single platform for customers and carriers simplified control over cargo shipping at all stages, including loading and unloading, storage and insurance.

7. Optimizing the search for cost-effective cargo transportation routes

The transport company Beltechnoservice (Belarus), which is engaged in international cargo transportation, needed a solution to optimize routing.

UTruck developed an application that selects the most profitable routes, considering toll roads, and allows you to calculate the route cost with 2% accuracy. The solution consists of a web application for logistics specialists and managers and a mobile application for drivers.

It’s also convenient that the service allows you to exclude certain countries from the route and select the type of driver's salary calculation. In addition, the mobile app uses offline maps, so a permanent internet connection is not required. The UTruck service allowed the client to optimize the work of logistics specialists, managers and drivers, as well as reduce costs.

Take a look at other examples of leveraging Wialon for long-haul transportation in our use cases library. Perhaps, you will find there a worthy idea for your client's business!

Read about the best telematics and IoT solutions in other IoT project of the year 2021 nominations. Find out more about incredible projects submitted for the competition by companies from across the globe to get new ideas and learn about new technologies. If you missed out on the award ceremony live stream, watch its recording on our YouTube channel.