Maximizing Shipping with GPS Fleet Management Software Rastrac Team | Mar 31, 2016 9:00:00 AM

For transportation companies, the efficiency & productivity of your fleet of trucks can make or break your operations. A fast, efficient cargo truck fleet can make more deliveries, generate more revenue, and reduce your overall costs. More than that, a productive vehicle fleet helps protect your company’s reputation by adhering to delivery timetables.

Generally speaking, the more productive you can make each truck in your shipping fleet, the better. The question is, how can you ensure that you’re getting the maximum shipping productivity from your fleet of cargo vehicles?

One way to maximize shipping productivity is to use GPS fleet management software to monitor and organize your fleet of vehicles.

Improving Route Efficiency

One of the biggest issues in maximizing efficiency for a fleet of shipping vehicles is planning the most efficient route from point A to point B. This is especially true for long-range shipping where your cargo vehicles have to go through multiple states or territories.

Why? Because, sometimes, the fastest path isn’t the shortest one. A route that saves 20 miles of total distance might actually take longer because of traffic patterns, speed limits, or other issues that impede progress.

GPS fleet management systems can help improve the efficiency of your route planning. For example, some GPS programs can provide traffic alerts to warn you of traffic congestion along your route. This can help your drivers avoid getting bogged down in heavy traffic, saving time.

Keeping Drivers On Task

Your company relies heavily on the ability of individual drivers to stay focused and on-task for days at a time. However, without some ability to remotely track driver activities, it’s nearly impossible to ensure that drivers are using their time (and vehicles) efficiently.

GPS fleet management software helps you ensure that all of your drivers are using their time efficiently by tracking their activities. On a moment’s notice, you can check important statistics such as truck start times, speed/acceleration, braking habits, and idle time.

With GPS data, you can accurately assess how efficiently your drivers are using your vehicles, and even identify opportunities for increasing efficiency so that they’ll be more productive.

Preventing Truck Breakdowns

Maintenance is a constant issue for trucks on long-range shipping routes. A lack of maintenance can lead to a breakdown on the road, which can cost your company in several ways:

• Expensive Roadside Services. Getting a mechanic out to see a truck on the road is typically costlier than getting service in a garage. Service charges for bringing diagnostic tools and replacement parts to a roadside location can significantly increase the cost of a repair job.
• Delays in Shipping. While your truck is on the side of the road waiting for service, your cargo load isn’t getting any closer to its destination. This can put your deliveries behind schedule, resulting in lost revenue.
• Replacement Vehicle Costs. If the damage to the rig from a lack of maintenance is severe enough, you may end up having to replace the vehicle entirely. Or, you may need to temporarily add another vehicle to the fleet to pick up the slack while the broken-down rig is being repaired.

GPS fleet management software helps to prevent breakdowns by tracking vehicle mileage and performance statistics. With this information, it’s easier to identify which of your cargo trucks need maintenance before they break down on the road.

It’s far easier and less expensive to provide preventative maintenance than it is to carry out emergency roadside repairs.

By keeping drivers on-task, improving route efficiency, and preventing vehicle breakdowns, GPS fleet management software can greatly increase the productivity of a fleet of shipping vehicles.