Elephant in the Room

Next year the global refrigerated transport market is projected to pass $32 billion.

That figure arrives after a compound annual growth rate of 5.8 per cent over the six preceding years starting in 2019. In Australia, nearly 90 per cent of the nation’s produce is transported by a cold carrier using refrigerated assets.

It’s not just food either. The pharmaceutical, intermodal, and security-relevant freight markets are all trending upwards.

Telematics uptake continues to increase in importance right across the road transport industry and, given the onus on time critical, temperature sensitive perishables, is a particular growth area in the refrigerated transport sector where compliance means that visibility is vital across the many links of the cold chain.

Trailer builder Schmitz Cargobull has entered this domain with TrailerConnect, an industry leading telematics solution that makes it possible to feed the latest data from working trailers to a portal where the information is centralised for immediate use.

Schmitz Cargobull have been fitting TrailerConnect telematics to its trailers since 2009.

The product, more recently launched in Australia, promises real-time customer facing analytics of trailers and freight from a single gateway for maximum system availability and data security.

Its function is to network highly integrated sensors and actuators in the trailer from a single source and in doing so will reduce the reliance on redundant sensors or energy management systems.

An intelligent sensor network is used for monitoring trailers and cargo and is compatible with all common third-party transport refrigeration units (TRUs).

At present there are 135 of these live units running across the Australian network. TrailerConnect from Schmitz Cargobull comes in two hardware guises — entry level and pro.

The entry level version will connect with any trailer type that is equipped with an EBS system. The pro-option is expressly compatible with temperature-controlled refrigerated trailers.

In addition to improving driving behaviour and the safety of the vehicle and other road users, the correct tyre pressure makes a decisive contribution to extending the service life of the tyres.

In Europe Tyre Pressure Monitoring Systems have become a mandatory requirement this July.

“Tyre pressure and temperature monitoring for up to 16 tyres per telematics unit allows the customer to be informed, as soon as there are any alarming pressures or temperatures,” says Jan Fiedler, Schmitz Cargobull Telematics Business Manager.

“The sensors mounted to the rim of each tyre, updates the values every five seconds.”

The pro version also monitors the temperatures inside the box with independent temperature sensors equipped in every smart trailer as standard.

A coupling sensor, in combination with a truck detection device, shows which truck is hooked up to which trailer.

Should a temperature reading fall out of its desirable parameters, the cause can, in many instances, be determined without delay.

Drivers on the frontline can receive timely warning of malfunctions and impending breakdowns to avoid them and mitigate against damage or delay of valuable freight. This is where the BeSmart app is particularly useful.

It connects via Wi-Fi and provides vehicle status updates to the driver on crucial vehicle and fridge data.

Reports can be downloaded 24/7 and automatically exported if wanted. For greater integration, the system can display data into third party telematics portals, so the customer isn’t overwhelmed by having too many systems to draw crucial data from.

“All necessary truck or trailer data can be imported on TrailerConnect,” says Luke Hardeman, Schmitz Cargobull National Sales and Marketing Manager.

“The end-user will enjoy the flexibility of having all the data streams integrated into one easy to use program without having to retrofit anything.”

The TrailerConnect portal offers a status overview of individual units in the fleet. By clicking on the icons for ignition, motion sensor, coupling status, door open/closed, fridge on/off, status of all axles, faults and alarms, the relevant information pertaining to each can be ascertained in real-time.

“The motion sensors confirm speed and weight, temperature recorder and data of cooling units,” says Luke.

“That makes it an end-to-end solution for the customer who demands safe-temperature management, optimised CO2 emissions, greater trailer uptime, improved transport security and technology that is future proofed.”

As fleets rely on boosting those granular percentiles of efficiency across the entire cold chain, a telematics offering such as TrailerConnect, which can avoid downtime through the accurate monitoring and conservation of thermal energy by ensuring doors are locked and trailers are sealed correctly, will ultimately support whether fleet management is effective and what needs to happen in order to make sure that it is.

In short, it’s a whole trailer solution.

On a macro level, TrailerConnect offers transport and logistics businesses expansive and ongoing insights across the many legs of the cold chain cycle from initial dispatch and transportation, to unloading, reloading and various points of delivery.

Fleet management, with this kind of access to information, can, through the recapitulation of weekly datasets, confirm the progress a business is making in safety, compliance, and productivity.

EBS data provides a live read on the aggregate load, mileage, speed, 24N counter, ABS counter, RSS counter, with a warning lamp.

The Pro version offers FleetWatch which provides fridge monitoring and predictive maintenance. The advantages for dispatchers are immediately observable.

“By increasing trailer availability through timely information on the status and wear of the technical units, breakdowns can be avoided, and inevitable service stops shortened,” says Luke.

With all the information they need at a glance, dispatchers can efficiently plan routes via a more transparent process such as route monitoring vehicles including those of current subcontractors.

This is also empowering so that reactions, when needed, can be made immediately allowing for corrections to be made.

Fleet managers, meanwhile, can make informed decisions when optimising the mobile assets in the network through the wide availability of digital documentation.

Having real-time data on the condition and performance of the trailers is necessary especially when it comes to analysing historical trailer data to determine and plan maintenance stops to optimise the availability of vehicles next week or even next quarter.

“Schmitz Cargobull offers a solution for the whole transport industry, for every trailer,” says Jan.

“The data will always belong to the customer and the customer decides who is allowed to see which dataset of their individual assets. One app for the driver and another one for the dispatcher or fleet manager for total transparency, if wanted.”