There is more visibility into the transportation supply chain today than ever before. Trillions of data points about truck location, vehicle health, ETAs, pricing, inventory and more are generated each day, providing the clearest picture of a connected supply chain that has ever existed.
And yet, the yard is one area that stays out of the limelight. It’s often an afterthought, disregarded or forgotten, making it one of the industry’s biggest disconnects despite facilities and trucks evolving through automation and optimization solutions.
Docks and yards are some of the busiest hubs of activity: many different carriers and vehicles coming in and out, bringing with them varied types of freight and operating with a wide range of technology solutions.
However, the amount of time spent loading or unloading at a dock – or waiting to do so – is one of the industry’s biggest challenges, and riddled with costly inefficiencies including driver detention, demurrage fees, potential risks or damage to shipments and lost productivity.
In 2023, the American Transportation Research Institute estimated that the trucking industry lost $3.6 billion in direct expenses and $11.5 billion in lost productivity due to driver detention.
Given these massive impacts, it’s important to revisit the yard, sometimes seen as the supply chain’s “black hole” in terms of data and visibility. Implementing a solution designed to bring predictability and efficiency to loading and unloading operations can provide real benefits to all supply chain stakeholders, from carriers to shippers and facility operators.
Benefits for carriers
According to Trimble’s research, it’s estimated that 11% of loading and unloading activities are rescheduled every day, and wait times of 1-2 hours are common across the industry.
In this time when drivers are at a premium, keeping drivers on the move, paid and happy is critical. Smarter dock and yard management can lead to significant gains in productivity and a reduction in empty miles for freight carriers.
No driver wants to spend hours idling in the yard, waiting for their appointment slot that was delayed without their knowledge. By the time they get to the gate, the opportunity to optimize has already passed.
Time slot booking is important and can make a difference. For example, when a food manufacturer started implementing a time slot management function within a dock and yard management solution, the company’s warehouses began performing better and are now in a position to prioritize carriers. Plus, the company experienced a 20% reduction in demurrage fees, decreased wait times, increased on-time deliveries and smoother business operations.
Additional value comes from adding in real-time visibility. Dynamic dock scheduling solutions can automatically provide updated ETAs and adjust appointment bookings in real time, preventing unused time slots, reducing wait times and avoiding both hours of service issues and wasted fuel from idling in the lot.
Technology can go a long way in reducing manual work for drivers: digitally geofenced locations can automatically trigger actions for paperless management of arrivals and departures. Pre-registration allows drivers to submit details before arrival, such as shipment information and compliance checks. On-site, automated license plate readers can validate entry and direct drivers to the correct dock.
These actions allow for faster and more predictable flow through the yard, with less congestion and a reduced administrative workload.
Benefits for shippers
For shippers, streamlined time slot booking and scheduling for loading and unloading leads to efficient yard management, which can significantly reduce detention and demurrage costs.
This results in faster truck turnaround times and optimized loading processes. Quicker truck turnaround times and fewer delays also elevate overall service levels among customers and promote sustainable logistics.
Increased visibility on arrival times improves predictability – knowing in advance if a truck will be late provides the opportunity to communicate and adjust time slots, strengthening the relationship between shippers and carrier partners.
Benefits to facilities
The impacts of delays and missed appointment slots have a ripple effect across the entire supply chain – even small inefficiencies scale quickly.
Paperless logistics and real-time insights can transform the yard into an efficient hub, eliminating congestion, boosting yard productivity, reducing personnel costs and enabling better overall decision-making.
With improved visibility, warehouses and carriers can work together to proactively reassign docks, prioritize urgent loads and fill gaps before delays occur.
Technology solutions that automatically account for truck arrival times to match available resources improves dock workers’ utilization and satisfaction. Rather than continuously running through cycles of being overwhelmed by too many trucks or frustrated by waiting at an empty dock for a truck to arrive, a dynamic scheduling solution keeps dock workers moving at a steady, manageable pace.
Connected solutions also provide the opportunity to showcase data and KPIs in real time at the dock, highlighting key metrics like average loading time, average dwell time and the number of loads expected for the day.
Challenge to opportunity
The disconnect between truck arrivals and actual loading capabilities has burdened the transportation industry with wasted time and soaring costs for a long time.
By using real-time visibility data to synchronize arrivals with true loading capacity, this supply chain “black hole” can instead turn a challenge into an opportunity. A well-managed yard strengthens the entire supply chain, improving customer service and reducing last-minute exceptions.
Carriers are able to plan their next jobs based on expected departure times, rather than estimates. Shippers have a better sense of when their freight is arriving, and facilities can better plan capacity.
It's a game-changer for efficiency and a crucial step forward in data-driven supply chain optimization for carriers, shippers and facilities alike.
