Techtalks: Transportation

Three Questions:

1. What alerts/features would the transportation (TMS, ELD) industry be keen to see/have to improve efficiencies?
2. What API's are most commonly requested by Customers/Partners in this industry?
3. Finally, What is the overall demand for Keyless (e-key) technology for Fleet management/control?

Yes, there are several free air cargo tracking APIs available that you can use. Some of them are:

OpenSky Network API: OpenSky Network provides a free RESTful API that allows you to track flights, including cargo flights, in real-time.

Aviationstack API: Aviationstack provides a free API that allows you to track flights and get flight data, including cargo flight data.

FlightAware API: FlightAware provides a free API that allows you to track flights, including cargo flights, and get flight data.

AirportInfo API: AirportInfo provides a free API that allows you to track flights, including cargo flights, and get flight data.

These APIs have different features and limitations, so you should choose the one that suits your needs best.

I would like to know the key features of DMS for restaurants. When taking for a delivery management system, what are the key points to be consider for having DMS for a restaurants online food delivery operations, and how DMS helps in to make delivery operations smoother?

There are many fleet management solution providers in the market and here I can suggest one of the leading companies called Contus that provides customizable fleet management solution to track, optimize, and monitor your fleet.

Useful to know.

Freight forwarding software that helps to manage freight forwarding and assists the freight forwarders in the creation and maintenance of jobs, and also helps to tracking consignments, handling finance and payroll, and more under a single software.
There are so many key features in Freight management software, Some of them are Live Shipment Tracking, Customized invoices, Single Touch Report, Multi-Branch.
Bridge LCS is the best freight forwarding software solution. It automates all operations related to freight forwarding, logistics,  customs clearance, warehousing, road transportation, sea freight, and air freight. The logistics software is now available across the Middle East, India, and Africa.
Bridge LCS is an ISO 25000:2014 CERTIFIED logistics & freight software. With Bridge LCS, no need to invest more money in secondary software. It's fast, secure, and easy to handle.
They provide secured backup at 3 different servers with data confidentiality and security. And also provide Free Demo.

The main benefit of freight forwarding software is to manage all operations related to freight forwarding. It digitalizes freight businesses. Manage operations like finance, supplier, sales, etc under a single software.
Freight software help reduces the paperwork and backup data, creating final reports, etc. The freight forwarding software has great potential to manage overall freight forwarding services and reach the business’s high profit.
In traditional freight companies store their important data in the files. Freight forwarding software like Bridge LCS provides a complete software solution and It can store all the data from the shipment origin to the final distribution. It can generate reports, invoices anywhere at any time.

Hi there, 
 
A subsidiary of Ford Mobility, TransLoc is a leading provider of microtransit solutions:  

• TransLoc RealTime: a tracking and dispatch software
• TransLoc Architect: GTFS manager to operate and share your transit data
• TransLoc OnDemand system: tools to facilitate demand-response transit including OnDemand app for drivers and Rider app for transit passengers to request a ride and track public transport. 

If you purchase any of these products, TransLoc will provide you with APIs to integrate their solutions. They don’t disclose their prices, so you can contact them directly to find out. You can fill out a contact form and they will be back to you.

If you have this question, it seems like you have a fleet to track. In this scenario, we can identify three steps:

Step 1: Install telematics devices in vehicles if you don’t have them yet

Usually, vehicle location data is collected by a GPS locator. It’s integrated into the telematics module which then transmits the tracking data. The image below from Exeros Technologies demonstrates it in more detail.

Step 2: Choose an off-the-shelf vehicle tracking solution or design your own

It can be a fully packed fleet management system with a routing module. Otherwise, you can look for a separate GPS fleet tracking system. Some of the best ones are:

• Advanced Tracking Technologies - monitors vehicle use and driver behavior
• USFleetTRacking - both hardware and software for vehicle tracking, includes live traffic and weather reporting, monitors driving conditions, starts at $29.95 per vehicle
• GPS Trackit - alerts for theft and unauthorized movements, temperature monitoring, detailed reports on vehicle use and driver behavior

Step 3: Integrate the chosen software into your management system.

If you would also like to optimize your fleet’s route, we have an article addressing this need.

SAP is a software company providing a system of integrated modules for every aspect of business management. But SAP isn’t just another Enterprise Resource Planning software, it’s number one in the ERP market.

In the context of your question, SAP transportation management aka SAP TM is a standalone module that meets transportation and logistics needs. It provides a centralized environment for end-to-end management of different types of freight (inbound and outbound, domestic and international) and orders (sales and purchase orders, returns, stock transfers). There you can track shipments, monitor logistics and fulfillment processes. If you need transportation management functionality, you can integrate SAP TM with your existing management system.

P.S. If you’d like to broaden your understanding of how logistics management works, peek at our article where we expand on it.

Transportation management system or TMS is a logistics platform for processing fleet operations related to physical movements of freight. The main reason for implementing a TMS is to reduce freight spend.

So, how exactly does a TMS influence freight savings?

Its reporting and analytics tools demonstrate what bad and good business decisions were made. This will allow you to avoid mistakes and tap into the right conclusions in the future.

With TMS you decrease time on freight management. It gathers all shipment-related documents in one place. So once integrated into your ERP, you save time on data entry as it syncs with other cross-departmental systems like aWarehouse Management System.

TMS introduces new delivery capabilities that enable same-day and instant delivery services.

TMS delivery management, scheduling, and order tracking features ensure on-time deliveries. This results in more accurate management of the inventory at hand.

TMS is a puzzle of the logistics management system. If you have any more questions, this article may answer them.

If you realized that your fleet needs a trucking accounting software (TAS), here is what matters.

Features. TAS must be able to perform such necessary operations as:

• load tracking: detailed information for each load (delivery date and time, truck info, driver details, etc).
• trip reports: generate a trip report with all expenses for each load (vehicle mileage, maintenance, etc. to charge customers and pay drivers)
• Income and expenses tracking like tolls, parking, fuel, etc.
• IFTA tax reporting: record all the required load details to fill out IFTA reports

Pricing. Let’s have a look at what’s there on the market. TruckBytes offer a free plan that includes all the necessary features except for IFTA reporting. Its paid version has quarterly IFTA monitoring and is one of the cheapest - $15 a month per truck. One thing is missing though. It’s a payroll solution which you’ll have to integrate from outside.

Another one - QuickBooks. Although it’s a general accounting solution, it’s widely used in the trucking industry. Many logistics solutions integrate with QuickBooks for accounting functions. They have four pricing plans starting from $25 up to $150 per month.

However, many TAS providers don’t share prices publicly. So, you’ll have to contact them directly for the trade in question. For example, a highly customizable software ProTransport. Another example - RigBooks solution for small fleets. They don’t share prices either, but they do offer a free 30-day trial.

Learning curve and usability. Answer the following questions to know how soon you’ll be able to leverage the TAS you chose:

• How fast your staff can figure out the software and start applying it in their daily operations?
• Does it cause them any trouble or vice versa - cuts corners optimizing the process?

Customer reviews. Be sure to check what others say about using this solution. It might seem like a perfect fit for you from the first glance, but turn out a disaster because of poor customer support or bugs present. If the solution has a trial version - even better. Don’t miss a chance to try it out before making any investments.

By the way, we have an article encompassing a full pack of fleet-related aspects under the umbrella term - fleet management software. Check it for a bigger picture.

The AutoPi Management Cloud, is basically a fleet and device management software, where you will be able to visualize all your data in the AutoPi Management Cloud. You can keep track of your devices and vehicles with the Advanced Fleet Management software.

I think the software is free upon buying a device. You can contact them to know more.  

Yes, there are many applications available  now form them i personaly suggest Applionsoft

Here’s a brief selection of major freight forwarders and shipping providers with their own software:

Damco International. Damco is a subsidiary of Maersk, one of the world's largest shippers. Damco has an application suite to manage freight forwarding.

Kuehne + Nagel is one of the top logistics companies. It offers the KN Login system that supports delivery tracking, operations management, collaboration tools, and business intelligence.

Freightos is an online digital freight forwarding marketplace. It connects carriers with anyone needing to ship their cargo. You get instant booking, rates comparison, and delivery tracking.

uShip is another shipping marketplace connecting both shippers and carriers. It uses a bidding system to match a shipping job with a provider.

Easyship is an eCommerce-focused shipping platform with connection to various shipping solutions like DHL, FedEx, TNT, and others. It gives visibility to different couriers, allows businesses to integrate their eCommerce CMS with shipping providers out of the box.