Xtra Lease, a provider of over-the-road trailer equipment rental and leasing in the U.S., announced that it has extended its agreement with Omnitracs, Inc., to provide untethered trailer tracking for Xtra Lease trailers. Omnitracs is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated and provider of business-to-business wireless enterprise applications and services.
The two companies first collaborated in 2006 to create a new Web-based user interface that improved fleets’ ability to manage their trailer assets through trailer tracking. Since then, Xtra Lease has added Omnitracs’ trailer tracking asset management system to most of its dry van trailers and continues to offer trailer tracking as a free feature on dry van rentals.
Omnitracs, formerly Qualcomm Enterprise Services, continues to provide products for safety and compliance, fuel management, mobile asset management, operational efficiency, and customer service for the for-hire and private fleet markets.
The renewed agreement maintains that Xtra Lease will continue to provide Omnitracs’ trailer tracking service as a tool to help fleets better manage their trailer and cargo assets. Xtra Lease today has trailer tracking installed on nearly 50,000 of its trailers.
“We continue to believe there is no other service available on a trailer more powerful than trailer tracking to help fleets reduce costs,” said Bill Franz, president and CEO. “XTRA Lease is committed to helping customers locate dormant trailers faster, enabling them to return under-utilized trailers quickly and save significant rental costs.
Trailer tracking continues to grow as a tool used by fleet managers to enhance asset utilization. Equipping fleet managers with location and event reporting data enables them to better react and perform asset planning based on what their trailers are reporting.
“Trailer tracking enables you to manage your trailers with authority,” said Craig Nolle, trailer tracking manager for XTRA Lease. “The dashboard provides for easy monitoring of trailer activity and downtime. And if you’re too busy to look up the data, you can let our system do the work for you. We can provide simple location and dormancy data for all trailers via email, so you don’t have to go to the Web.”
Nolle adds that nationwide trailer visibility adds greater power for fleets who take advantage of XTRA Lease’s nationwide trailer availability. “For fleets operating our trailers from various locations around the country, visibility is key to better managing the assets more efficiently.
For other fleets, tracking provides great opportunity to monitor trailer status and inventory while reducing operating costs, thanks to location data. “Your smart phone comes with GPS, why shouldn’t your trailers which contain high-value cargo?” Nolle adds.
