GPS Tracking

A Solution to Supply Chain Inefficiency

In the global marketplace, shipping and fleet management operations of larger corporate organizations are among the most critical factors influencing the ultimate success or failure of the company.  Any company that produces or ships a tangible product typically utilizes the transportation services of overseas cargo ships, transcontinental railroads, and large trailer-bearing trucks.  These vehicles assist the various fleet management divisions of corporate enterprises by confidently carrying mass quantities of product to the organization’s warehouse sites, retail outlets, and distribution centers, which can be spread across the nation and even abroad.  In long excursions, monitoring the location and speed of large cargo shipments can become troublesome, even if a global satellite navigation system such as the United States’ Global Positioning System (GPS) is implemented; when loading large shipment containers onto a transportation vehicle, the stacking process and material composition of the containers renders GPS signal acquisition virtually unattainable.  This debacle can be exaggerated even further when international travel requires the utilization of more than one system of global navigation satellites, such as Europe’s Galileo satellite tracking system.  Fortunately for the fleet management divisions of companies across the globe, the European Space Agency (ESA) has developed a universal container tracking program that eliminates the structural questionability of GPS and similar systems on long transcontinental expeditions.

A Growing Industry

The global container traffic by sea, rail, and road is estimated to reach approximately 19 million units by 2012.  For years, fleet managers have claimed that in order to accommodate this kind of exponential growth, end-to-end visibility and tracking is urgently needed to make container shipping more efficient, as well as provide an enhanced level of trade security.  The program, dubbed by the ESA as Cont-Trak, provides the solution to this dilemma.  By incorporating a suite of sensors within a given container (including those buried in a stack), immediate satellite communication via a symbiotic correspondence between GPS and Galileo will notify fleet managers of any tampering, thereby enhancing the safety and security of container transportation. (more…)

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Enterprising Shipping Entities Realize the Benefits

Recovering from Theft that Runs in the Millions of Dollars

A change is taking place in the cargo shipping industry.  This change is for the betterment of the business segment and will help keep them profitable for years to come.  The focus of this change comes in the form of GPS Tracking systems that are being implemented world-wide.

Further proof of this change is realized from stories of businesses that provide tracking to those that move freight on a daily basis.  Faced with pressures to reduce cargo theft and improve service these alliances are proving quite formidable in monitoring and following up on the theft of product.

GPS Tracking for Short or Long Runs

These efforts have made GPS Tracking a must-have for cargo transporting whether across the country or from continent to continent.  The main thrust of these systems is the ability to monitor shipments as they traverse the globe in real-time.

Then, the ability to react quickly to attempts to steal the cargo has helped minimize losses while protecting profitability.  Here’s how it works:

GPS Tracking Devices Deployed.  As shipments are prepared for movement from one location to another, they are outfitted with GPS Tracking devices.  These are hidden among the goods and are then activated for real-time tracking. (more…)

By JAMES NEELY / guest writer

-        James is a freelance writer for Rocky Mountain Tracking based in Fort Collins Colorado, a provider of GPS tracking products, software and accessories. For information about Rocky Mountain Tracking, Inc. visit www.RMTracking.com.

Recent statistics show that theft of cargo by stealing semi trailers is becoming a bigger problem in the United States.  FreightWatch International reports an increase of 15% in incidents from January to February 2010.

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TORONTO, CAN. – It’s not easy being a thief.

Due to the growing sophistication and widespread use of vehicle tracking systems, it’s become more difficult to steal someone else’s car, truck or cargo. But leave it to the bad guys to keep giving it the old college try.

In Toronto, Canada, seven members of a known cargo theft gang were recently arrested when a GPS tracking device led police to a stolen shipment of tobacco products.

The men, who were armed and masked, attacked a truck driver who was waiting to unload at a Toronto distribution facility, said the Ontario Trucking Association. They locked him in the sleeper cab.

Knowing that many cars – and certainly most commercial trucks – are now monitored with GPS vehicle tracking systems, the thieves hesitated in their escape, and found and disabled the truck’s vehicle tracking device. Confident they could make a clean getaway, they took off in the tractor/trailer. The driver was released a short time later. He called police.

What the suspects didn’t know was that a second vehicle tracking device was embedded in the stolen tobacco shipment. Basic vehicle tracking devices have been adapted to work for the protection of other assets. Many companies now put GPS tracking devices on their loads so someone from home base can follow where they are and if they get to their destinations on time.

With the owner’s permission, the police used the GPS tracking device to nab the thieves. They were found, along with the truck and its contents, at a nearby loading dock. Goods from several other heists were found in an adjacent warehouse. The products recovered were estimated at a value of $2 million.

Thefts of products in transit are up 300 percent this year, according to a professional trucker trade organization, despite a sharp increase also in use of vehicle tracking and surveillance systems. Police agencies believe organized crime rings are getting bolder in their pursuits of goods, even in secured or semi-secured facilities. When these shipments are recovered, it is usually with the aid of GPS tracking systems.