Abstract
The results of a 3-year research work that investigated the impact of the introduction of mobile data communications (MDC) and electronic data interchange (EDI) on road freight operation is presented. Pilot applications were set up throughout Europe and evaluated for a number of months for both MDC and EDI. A total of 63 trucks belonging to five transport operators were equipped with MDC equipment, while five EDI liaisons were established to deal with transport order handling, contract status reporting, and ferryboat booking. A comprehensive evaluation of these pilot applications followed, and the results are presented and discussed. For MDC, tangible benefits were identified that can recover costs of the complete installation within 3 to 6 years. Specific benefits included an increase of about 2–3 percent in productive vehicle-kilometers, savings in fuel costs of 1–3 percent, and reductions in dispatch times of 5–6 percent. For EDI, certain preconditions for success were found to be necessary before tangible benefits occur: There must be a certain minimum of business done by EDI compared to the total business of the company—about 15–20 percent of all transactions—and there must be an overall acceptance and use of EDI in the business environment as a whole, in other words, a “critical mass” of wider EDI use. The integration of MDC and EDI within the same company will help maximize the benefits from both systems. In the pilot applications presented here, the EDI installation payback period was not positive, but several points regarding the conditions under which positive results could be obtained are made and actions are recommended.
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