Shore Porters go live with telematics system

The oldest distribution and removals company in the world has gone live with a telematics system to boost sales and cut costs.

The Shore Porters Society was established in 1498 in Aberdeen and initially operated throughout the north east of Scotland as general carriers and removal contractors.

The Fleetstar-Online telematics system from Cybit provides the society with live internet-based tracking, so it can see the exact location of each of its vehicles.

In the first week since implementation, the company says it has increased efficiency and gained 40 hours of driving time a week through increased productivity.

Sean Simpson, a partner at the society, said, “The benefits have been immediate - we are now able to respond immediately to customers that call in saying 'I need a pick-up this afternoon', rather than having to go away, find out if there are any vehicles available, then go back to customer - only to find out they've gone elsewhere.”

Simpson said there were other benefits too. “We are able to manage every employee more effectively, so we can make them more productive, and we're also getting significant cost benefits from our insurance company as a result of the risk management enhancements of having a telematics implementation,” he said.

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