Trailer telematics starts fleet optimization jump

   According to a new study from Frost & Sullivan, found here, the trailer telematics market is not only ripe for the picking, but it’s also the place to look to when observing what fleets will adopt as new optimization processes.
   Frost & Sullivan said that telematics vendors have a large opportunity in Europe and North America since most trailers don’t have systems currently, but noted that these services must be secure and provide easy-to-use asset monitoring. The company believes the opportunity is growing because hardware costs are decreasing and the knowledge around the benefits of telematics are increasing.
   Frost & Sullivan said companies looking into telematics often further their approach to include optimization efforts because they become aware of the ability to maximize efficiency in other aspects of their operations. Adding in a fleet telematics offering means also needing systems that can support it and opens up opportunities to make day-to-day operations more productive by using the new data collected, reducing costs.
   These operations also allow companies to share and collect more information with their partner and customer networks.
   “Consolidation, horizontal collaboration, and joint ventures among logistics operators is expected to increase the need for an integrated supply chain solutions provider providing end-to-end asset visibility,” said Frost & Sullivan senior research analyst Niranjan Manohar. “As the fleets’ and leasing companies’ operations get increasingly interfaced with that of their customers, the need for effective trailer tracking for productivity improvement is more critical now than ever before.”
   Frost & Sullivan called security and productivity improvements for mobile assets that haul industrial and consumer goods in Europe a key issue around future growth. The researcher said that one key thing the market needs is standardization around technologies, which will make the mid-market more inclined to participate as costs reduce.
   It estimates that less than 5 percent of the 2.3 million trailers in Europe have telematics systems, but said that the penetration rate will rise to 18.2 percent among the estimated 3.1 million trailers that will be available in 2017. – Geoff Whiting