Case Studies

Maritime

Driving Efficiencies Through Innovation

Microlise has the team in place and the support available. We speak to them on a daily basis, they know their products really well and how we use them.

James Cole, Transport Manager, Maritime Transport

Idling Down To 1.5% Across All Depots

Integrating Systems To Talk To One Another

UK'S Largest Container Transport Operator

The Challenge

In 2012, Maritime Transport, the UK’s largest container transport operator, was looking for ways to increase efficiencies across the operation. The company was looking to find a telematics technology partner, capable of supporting a wider initiative to innovate with technology and data.

The Approach

In 2012, Maritime Transport, the UK’s largest container transport operator, was looking for ways to increase efficiencies across the operation. The company was looking to find a telematics technology partner, capable of supporting a wider initiative to innovate with technology and data.

After exploring options in the market, Maritime partnered with Microlise, with telematics introduced across the fleet of 700 vehicles. The solution put in place provided insight into driver and vehicle performance, and allowed Maritime to track the location of assets, understanding how they were being utilised, allowing for increases in fleet utilisation.Initially, Maritime focused at addressing areas where efficiencies could more readily be achieved, before later looking at more innovative ways to make use of the data collected and intelligence gained, and expanding the solution to 1,000 vehicles as the fleet grew.

The Result

Following the installation of the Microlise solution across the fleet of 700 vehicles, Maritime quickly set about identifying areas where efficiencies and cost savings cost be made.

The first area of focus was engine idling, with pre-telematics at an unacceptable level across all depots of the operation. With idling representing a significant cost in terms of wasted fuel, the team at Maritime were keen to reduce the level, with a campaign run aimed at drivers to educate them on how to minimise idling.

With the support of the telematics in place, Maritime were able to achieve a single figure engine idling percentage across the fleet. The result of this initiative was a cost saving that validated the decision to adopt the technology and making a significant return on the investment of doing so.

Following this success, Maritime focused on other areas of improvement, such as driving style with Microlise A-G reports used to support development of driver skills. This has delivered gains in terms of additional fuel savings as well as increases in safety levels and accident prevention.

As part of the solution in place, Maritime deployed the Journey Management product from Microlise, complete with Customer Service and Schedule Execution Boards. Journey Management provided Maritime with real-time visibility of the fleet against plan, delivering the ability to compare planned routes vs actual to improve planning and reduce mileage run.

Journey Management has also allowed Maritime to deliver proactive customer services, where any issues, such a vehicle running behind schedule and set to miss an arrival time, are identified early. The Maritime team are able to contact customers before they become aware of a problem, or take action to rectify the issue.

With the solution tested and proving its worth, it is now installed across the entire Maritime fleet with all new vehicles fitted with the technology prior to their first journey. The Microlise DriveTab device has been adopted to facilitate safe and effective two-way communication with drivers, as well as allowing tasks and work to be managed.

The relationship between Maritime and Microlise continues to grow, with the two teams in regular contact and working closely together to drive innovation and efficiencies, with Microlise supporting Maritime in achieving its objectives.