Hazardous shipment tracking and monitoring

Abstract

System, methods, and computer program products are provided for enhanced freight tracking and monitoring. The system may track the location of a freight shipment within a carrier's transportation network from the time it is picked up by a carrier from a consignor until it is delivered to a consignee, provide for weight determinations and shipping re-classifications of the freight shipment during transport, and provide real-time status information and reports to the carrier, consignor, and / or consignee.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 12 / 201,533, filed Aug. 29, 2008, which is hereby incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.BACKGROUND[0002]The shipping industry is comprised of various types of shippers, including small package carriers, less-than-a-load (“LTL”) carriers, and truck load carriers. Small package carriers usually transport packages or boxes from multiple consignors, while truck load carriers typically transport entire trailer loads from a single consignor. LTL carriers, on the other hand, generally transport freight that falls in between small packages and trailer loads. For example, LTL carriers may move freight from multiple consignees in a single trailer load, such as crates, scrap metal banded together, vehicle parts, pallets of boxes, drums, and the like. This freight is usually consolidated into a single trailer and transported through a carrier's transportation network. To track ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention provides systems and methods for enhanced freight tracking and monitoring. This involves receiving shipping data associated with a freight shipment, generating an electronic manifest containing the shipping data, and electronically transmitting the manifest to a lift truck computing device. The lift truck computing device can display the manifest and receive input initiating a location event for the freight shipment. The system also includes an imaging device for capturing images of the freight shipment and a reweigh computing device for determining the weight of at least a portion of the freight shipment and electronically transmitting the weight determination to the lift truck computing device. These features enable improved tracking and monitoring of freight shipments during transportation.

Problems solved by technology

The use of paper bills of lading decreases the efficiency and throughput of carrier transportation networks—relying almost solely on the efficiency of carrier employees—and does not provide for real-time visibility of freight progressing through a transportation network.

And although many carriers have internal audit mechanisms to verify the weight and shipping classifications provided on the bills of lading, the audit procedures are generally paper-driven and manual in nature.

The paper-driven and manual nature of the current audit procedures limit the carriers' ability to efficiently and cost-effectively audit much of the freight they transport.

This methodology usually enables carriers to only audit select freight shipments, leaving the majority of freight shipments unaudited and possibly incorrectly classified.

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