The Port of Oakland and Bay Area World Trade Center, supported by a number of innovative technology companies, including Xora, announced the Truck Tracker initiative to provide better visibility of intermodal trucking traffic around the Port.
How it Works
GPS-enabled mobile phones are distributed to participating trucking companies. The phones are used to both capture the status and location of trucks and associated containers, as well as to deliver dispatch or asset management instructions to the drivers. The GPS component of the phones provides location information. A small application on the phones is used to capture status and deliver instructions. The mobile applications are tied to trucking company dispatch systems, which are in turn integrated to ocean carrier and shipper supply chain systems to automate the flow of container dispatch information. To date, over 200 Sprint Nextel handsets running the Xora service have been delivered to participating truck drivers.
Truck Tracker is based on technology from three separate contributing companies. The IAS Hub is a common operating platform for the ocean container shipping industry and acts as the primary data repository for this initiative. Xora provides real-time location and data collection capabilities via a GPS-enabled mobile phone. Sprint/Nextel provides a robust location-based service platform and high-speed wireless network which carries this data from drivers’ phones, and ultimately ends up flowing into the IAS Hub.
By collecting real-time location and shipment data through a driver’s handset, Truck Tracker helps trucking companies utilize their fleets more efficiently and automates proof-of-delivery notification. Also, by ensuring drivers are only using authorized roadways at designated times, the Port will be able to keep truck traffic on commercial routes and away from residential streets. And by enabling truckers to be more efficient in movement of goods, Truck Tracker can contribute to reduced congestion and pollution in residential areas around the Port of Oakland.
