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In the United States, Transus Intermodal reports that it has saved what it calls the exorbitant costs of round-the-clock guards and improved control over security.
With its remote access capabilities and better overview of the yards, video surveillance is also a new management tool assisting with the dispatch of trucks and ensuring greater customer satisfaction.
Transus Intermodal has to protect all shipments in transit against theft. Their 12 trucking container yards, throughout the Southeast USA, tend to be in isolated areas that are dark at night. Guard services were very expensive and proved to be inadequate for their needs.
What they say
โWe are most concerned about security at our depots, where the goods have been put in containers in between shipments at the docks before being picked up by the truckers. These goods are in transit and need to be protected. We had both attempts and actual thefts before, but a lot less of these incidences since we got the new security system,โ reports Mike Malikowski, VP Transportation & Logistics at Transus Intermodal.
IP video
For more than five years, Transus Intermodal has been using an IP video surveillance system with Milestone software for protecting their business in 12 locations including Atlanta, Charleston, Nashville, Dalton, Charlotte, Savannah, Memphis, Jacksonville, and Greenville. Incom Interactive Surveillance, an authorised Milestone partner based out of Atlanta, installed the system. Transus Intermodal manages 325 trucks of which 90pc are contracted, and the other 10 per cent company-owned. They are responsible for storing and moving around 9,200 containers monthly.
Protection against theft
โWhen the loads are pulled off the ships at the ports and before our drivers come to get them, thatโs where itโs critical, when we have a lot of loads sitting in waiting. The cameras are specifically angled at the containers and thereโs only one way in or out of them, just as thereโs only one way in or out of the yard,โ explains Malikowski.
โWeโre protecting Transus against โtheft of opportunityโ, those who pull up in a pickup truck or even a U-haul, crack a bunch of locks open until they see something they like, unload it and run off,โ says Tim Mueller, President at Incom Interactive Surveillance. โTheyโre looking for opportunities, but theyโre not going to find them in Transusโ yards!โ
Monitoring accidents
The company also needs to monitor for truck accidents. A driver sometimes pulls in too fast, knocks over a fence or pole, hitting a building as they drive in or out of the yards. The video surveillance can be used to document evidence of that and resolve any disputes. โThere are procedures for checking containers in or out at the yards, which can be verified through the surveillance,โ says Mueller. โIf people are working too fast and donโt catch everything in the checking process, that can cost the company thousands of dollars later on. Or if a driver takes a container that had damage, that damage is documented in advance so heโs not responsible on delivery of the damaged chassis to the customer.โ
Surveillance replaces guards
Incom Interactive Surveillance has installed a mix of JVC network cameras, Pelco Specter 3 PTZ cameras and Sanyo stationary color cameras with night-time visibility in each location. Milestone XProtect IP video surveillance software is used to schedule the cameras, to record on motion detection, and to view or manage the images archived in its database.
โWe used to have security guards at every facility all night long, which cost a lot โ about $500,000 a year or more because we had to have them on weekends and holidays, round-the-clock, in addition to the weekdays. We save that money and have much better control over our security now,โ states Malikowski. โThe guards werenโt reliable enough. We walked into our Charlotte location one night and found the security guard sleeping in his car and we had to wake him up!โ
โIโve known guards who set an alarm clock to go off once every hour to wake them up for going on rounds. And walking around a site does not give the kind of total and simultaneous overview of an entire location that the camera surveillance can,โ adds Mueller.
Extra benefits
โWe started out using the surveillance just for the theft issues, but there are all these extra benefits like scanning the yards, fixing vehicles, checking if drivers have arrived,โ says Mike Malikowski, VP Transportation & Logistics at Transus Intermodal. They have also found the system useful when managing the logistical activities of the truckers on route, getting reports on the status of timing their schedules, truck break-downs, weather or traffic problems requiring diversions. Likewise, the surveillance images can resolve disputes with the steamship companies, if they make claims about shipments not being handled on time or properly.
Securing satisfaction
โWith customers, it always comes up. They ask: whatโs our security? We have shown the system to prospective customers who want to know how quickly trucks can get in and out of our locations. Tim sets them up with remote access to our surveillance and they can just click on the IP address anytime they want, look at the live images of our yards and gates to see how well we run our business. I know there have been customers who doubted what weโd say, but when we could let them look for themselves, thereโs no question of the quality and speedy service. They are always impressed and satisfied with the 24-hour monitoring,โ continues Malikowski. โWe donโt have many security issues anymore, so now we use it for all these extra things that help us run our business better. It helps us plan our overall operation more optimally.โ
