'98 Year in Review: Information Technology

The debate over the government’s use of electronically gathered information took center stage in 1998 as the Federal Highway Department launched a test of a satellite-based vehicle tracking system. During the two-year project, participating carriers will use mobile communication technology instead of paper logbooks to monitor hours of service (6-15, p.1).

Meanwhile, 1998 saw the industry embrace the Internet as a tool to not only exchange information, but perform vital business functions as well.

Online load-matching services popped up all over the World Wide Web, allowing shippers and carriers to exchange load and equipment data over the Internet.

By some counts, there are more than 30 load-matching services on the Internet. While most are simply forms of bulletin boards, there are a few pioneers that have transformed their Web sites into electronic marketplaces, where loads are bought and sold with the click of a mouse and a few keystrokes (6-15, p. 12).

Technology has made truckers lives easier as well. Some truck stops offer a variety of in-cab electronic services.

SmartStop Inc. announced plans to create a digital network connecting hundreds of truck stops. The network will give truckers access to interactive video, in-cab e-mail, and automatic teller machines (8-17, p. 8).

No information technology review would be complete without mentioning how the industry is handling the Year 2000 computer bug, which is now less than a year away.

According to many professionals in the information technology field, most large carriers should weather the “Y2K” problem — the millennium computer crisis of using two or four-digit years in representing a date (9-14, p. 1).

It’s hard to tell exactly what will be affected and in what way until the clock strikes midnight on Dec. 31, 1999, but one thing is for sure - time is running out.

Trucking companies with a large investment in information technology have long since organized task forces to manage the transition. But smaller fleets that operate with homegrown computer systems and have just begun to organize their Y2K campaigns could face a serious challenge.

For the full story, see the Jan. 11 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.