Technology

All carriers across the trucking industry have been forced to adapt quickly to the major changes brought on by COVID-19, and one major aspect of these new changes has become investments into technology.

Monitoring employee health, improving loading and delivery efforts to avoid human contact, or just transitioning industry workers to working from home have all brought new technological methods and programs to trucking companies, and industry experts say these changes are boosting overall efficiency and effectiveness that will become a regular part of the trucking industry as a whole.

For example, alcoholic beverage distributor Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits has implemented a text message system that requests a health form completion from drivers and employees two hours before their shifts begin. Throughout the pandemic, this method has become a vital communication tool as the company uses this same system to send important information to employees as it can reach them quickly, even when they are working remotely or on the road.

Telematics system and electronic logging device data have also increased heavily during this time, and fleets are learning how to implement these systems into their daily routines to boost operation quality and efficiency.

“We are able to tell our customers our projected delivery time from the first stop to the last, with added traffic and weather impacts,” said McLane Co. director of transportation support, Jim VonAchen. “Our customers can then prepare for our arrival 12 hours out and make sure they have resources ready.”

VonAchen explained that these changes allowed McLane to update all of its delivery network procedures in order to reduce costs and meet rising demands when the pandemic began.

“As you scale up from a small company, these tools become invaluable,” he explained.

“We don’t see an end in sight to this any time soon,” agreed Ron Flanary, senior vice president of national operations for Southern Glazer’s. “We are making the investment in technology,” which will be vital for the company’s fleet of 2,189 straight trucks, 721 tractors, and 2,500 drivers.

Fleet Advantage chief operating officer, Jim Griffin, notes that many carriers are now kicking themselves for not having invested in advanced trucking equipment before COVID-19 hit.

“We have some clients that had put off fleet modification and felt that was a mistake,” Griffin said. “They should have been more prepared.” This is especially true as more fleets have been left with aging equipment throughout the pandemic, which hinders companies from having cost-reducing automated safety systems and improved fuel efficiency.

Older trucks will be replaced quickly with newer, advanced models as soon as the economy bounces back, and growth will continue, Griffin predicts.

Technology has also made remote jobs much easier during stay-at-home orders, and there have been more opportunities than ever to secure this kind of work. Additionally, many trucking companies have found that remote scheduling and digital management practices through a decentralized business model have also helped employees working in-office.

“You never thought you could send people home for a long period and keep the national supply chain to grocery stores holding up very well,” said Flanary of his surprise at the efficiency of these methods.

For Clean Harbors, the company shifted into a nearly-fully remote work and dispatch system within only eight days, which included the time it took to feel things out and solve initial problems with the transition, said the company’s executive vice president of transportation and logistics, Kevin Ridings.

Clean Harbors utilizes a virtual private network that is accessible via laptops, but also has dispatchers working from office workstations who needed a method of accessing the system. Now, employees have their own iPhones, given by the company, which allow all workers to access the essential planning and dispatch database through iPhone applications.

Still, though, Sysco executive vice president and chief supply chain officer Marie Robinson believes remote working won’t last forever, and said some team members–especially management–will need to conduct employee evaluations or update engineering methods in person.

“This is the first time in my 32-year career when I’ve actually asked my associates to put themselves in a situation that I have not put myself in,” she said. “I want to get back into the truck.”

Electronic logging device data is still at risk of being hacked, as told in a recent cautionary notice released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

In the warning, the FBI said cyber criminals can obtain business information through vulnerabilities within ELDs, although hackers have not yet found an easy way to break into that type of data.

“Although the ELD mandate seeks to provide safety and efficiency benefits, it does not contain cybersecurity requirements for manufacturers or suppliers of ELDs, and there is no requirement for third-party validation or testing prior to the ELD self-certification process,” said the FBI last month in its Private Industry Notification.

The notification had no mention of any specific recent attempts to hack into and ELD data.

“Industry and academic research into a selection of self-certified ELDs found the sample of devices did little to nothing to follow cybersecurity best practices and were vulnerable to compromise,” said the warning. “The sample included ELDs that could be purchased off the shelf at superstores and ELDs supplied by well-known companies.”

American Trucking Association’s Fleet CyWatch program also released information aligning with this cautionary notice. The program provides ATA members with internet crime and cyber attack information regarding the trucking industry.

Ross Froat, ATA’s director of technology and engineering policy, said these vulnerabilities have, thus far, only been noticed due to current testing and research efforts.

“There have not been any cyber crime reports of trucks or their technology applications, especially by way of an ELD,” he explained. “The FBI notification is for informational awareness from their industry activities.”

The FBI did iterate this in its warning, saying that the notice was “in furtherance of public-private partnerships.”

For this purpose, “the FBI routinely advises private industry of various cyber threat indicators observed during the course of our investigations,” said the agency. “This data is provided in order to help systems administrators guard against the actions of persistent cyber actors.”

Trucking companies utilizing ELDs should, according to the notice, reduce their risk for any cyber attack by following ELD safety guidelines. “This includes asking the ELD’s supplier specific questions, some of which are identified in this [notification],” said the warning.

As of mid-December, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has mandated the use of ELDs in commercial trucks, so that driver hours can be logged electronically.

Although some studies show that ELDS are easy targets for cyber attacks, this is more likely to be the case on less-secure ELDs, especially those that rely on older technology.

“It’s important to know industry-accepted ELDs are secure,” said Froat. “ELDs’ primary role is to record hours of service and have mandated cybersecurity protocols. They just need to follow these protocols and enhance themselves with industry-recognized best practices.”

According to Froat, this warning should not be surprising to any members of ATA. “We’re happy that the FBI private industry notification was released, but this activity shouldn’t be new to our members. Through ATA Fleet CyWatch and the Technology & Maintenance Council’s cybersecurity task forces and conferences, ATA has been very engaged in improving the industry’s cybersecurity posture.”

The FBI’s notice explained that a sample of ELDs were not adhering to the safety protocol that is in a trucking company’s best interest. ELDs send inspection reports directly to FMCSA and must connect to a vehicle’s electronic control module to track location, data, time, hours of operation, vehicle miles, user identification, vehicle identification, and motor carrier identification information.

If an ELD has more advanced telematics functions that are connected to shipment tracking and dispatching, a successful cyber attacker could easily navigate the company’s overarching network after gaining access, said the notice.

“Cyber criminals interested in stealing data such as personal information, business and financial records, location history and vehicle tracking, or other proprietary data such as lists of customers and cargo can use vulnerabilities in ELDs as a way in to access trucking companies’ enterprise networks and databases,” it continued.

After this access, a hacker could potentially install malware and prevent the ELD and the vehicle from operating properly until a ransom is paid. Signs of this activity can include unusual file sharing and unusual traffic on a company’s network, which can be detected by creating a network baseline, implementing a method of monitoring network traffic, and restricting user and device access to only what is necessary for a specific job.