eCargo tests cellphone link for small truckers

By ADAM GIFFORD

Online freight scheduling portal eCargo has teamed up with Vodafone to develop a mobile phone interface for its internet-based transport system to extend its reach in the trucking industry.

General manager Nicola Hunter said the eCargo wireless application protocol (Wap) interface was set to go into beta testing early in January and should be generally available by March. Though Wap had not taken off to the extent its promoters promised, Ms Hunter said freight scheduling was an application where it made sense.

"I'm dealing with truck drivers who are nice people but who can't spend $1300 on a PDA, $200 on a wireless modem and all the rest. They do have cellphones, so why should they be excluded from a freight management system that is taking the country by storm?

"If you are a national or regional carrier, you can have someone sitting in front of a PC picking up orders, but if you are an owner-operator, why should you miss out on jobs?"

She said some firms were now attempting to put all their freight business through eCargo, which could squeeze out smaller carriers unless something was done to bring them into the system.

For a fee of $35 a month, drivers will be able to log into the Wap interface with their mobile phone to view lists of deliveries assigned to their vehicle, check basic delivery details and bid for new jobs.

They can use the phone to update delivery times, confirm when deliveries are made and request statements of past deliveries.

"We've kept it lean or it would make it too complex to use," Ms Hunter said. The Wap interface cost $28,000 to develop.

eCargo was set up as part of a Carter Holt Harvey drive towards e-business, and initially served companies in the Carter group, including EcoPine, Kinleith, Packaging New Zealand and Tasman.

It is now going out to other companies, with Sanitarium reporting a 20 per cent reduction in the number of vehicles needed and 10 per cent time saving through using eCargo.

Ms Hunter said nine companies were due to start using eCargo in January, and five Australian companies were negotiating to use the system across the Tasman.

"As it is, we're hosted by AT&T, so we'd just buy a separate server and adjust it for the time differences."

National Road Carriers Association executive officer James Smith said his association was interested in seeing how eCargo on Wap performed.

"It potentially represents a significant opportunity to work smarter for a large number of our members who would benefit from being able to stay on the road longer."

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