FourKites recently released real-time dwell time displays and alerts for each active load, allowing shippers and carriers to know exactly how long a load has been standing at a single location, and to receive an alert when that time passes a specified threshold.
This feature will provide unprecedented visibility into dock operations, enabling dock managers to streamline load and unload operations and to minimize how long sensitive shipments are kept idling. At the same time, it will allow shippers to reduce the detention costs they pay carriers, as well as potential fines from end-customers because of delays.
As a transportation manager, knowing how long each truck or container has been idle — and being able to assess how close each one is to incurring a detention fine — is the key to mitigating this problem. With real-time dwell time updates, a manager can prioritize handling trucks and containers that have idled the longest, or are the closest to incurring a fine.
FourKites’ new dwell time data, based on actual geofence entry and exit, will also provide an accurate, unified source of information about dwell times that can be shared among shippers, 3PLs, carriers and end-customers for trend analysis and reporting. Until now, keeping accurate records of dwell times on active loads has been a manual and time-consuming process, often relying on information relayed from driver to carrier to shipper — going through several different people, increasing the likelihood of human error. With these latest improvements to its real-time tracking platform software, FourKites makes it possible to not only accurately keep tabs on dwell times, but to integrate that information directly with existing systems as well.
Powered by our industry-leading geofencing technology, FourKites dwell time tracking records the exact time that a load arrives at a designated location, how long it stays there, and what time it exits the area. All of this information is available as a report with drill-down capabilities, or can be exported to use within a own business intelligence system. This makes it possible to then determine average dwell times for specific stops, view carrier-level data, and perform root-cause analysis to identify and resolve issues.
This latest feature from FourKites integrates with existing dock optimization features, including the industry’s most accurate in-and-out times for stops, hand-offs, dry-docks, and deliveries, along with ETA calculations powered by GPS/ELD location updates every 15 minutes, from a network of more than four million connected assets.
For more information on using FourKites to track dwell times, we invite you to get in touch.
