Transport control of forest fuels by fleet manager, mobile terminals and GPS

Chip transportation is undertaken by private transportation enterprises that are contracted by a larger wood fuel trader. Compared with industrial roundwood supply the volumes and value of wood fuel supply are markedly lower. As a result, the possibilities to invest in information systems for transport management are limited. New portable, wireless communication techniques and internet-based systems for fleet management enable more cost-efficient control systems with low investment costs in hard and software and also low operating costs. Mobile handsets with GPS, digital road map display and global positioning systems (GPS) or general purpose radio service data transfer protocol can be used as mobile terminals in chippers and trucks. In addition, transport management personnel can use them to locate in-forest wood fuel storage piles into the map database as well as point suitable routing to the storage piles. In a pilot study, conducted in Central Finland, an internet based management tool, Arbonaut Fleet Manager™, was tailored for forest fuel supply chain management and trailed for three months. It was found that use of mobile handsets with GPS and map display assisted especially in exact location of in-forest wood fuel storage piles by managers. They assisted also trucks and chippers in navigation to storages and landings, but the screen was too small for reading during driving. The management system was found helpful in stock accounting and GPS-based vehicle tracking gave transportation distances directly for invoicing.