Published by:
Transport Topics
Janurary 5, 2004

Hunt Equips 20,000 Vans With Terion Technology

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, the nation’s second-largest truckload carrier, said that in recent months it had equipped its 20,000 dry van trailers with equipment-tracking and cargo-sensing technology from Terion Inc.

Todd Felker, Terion’s vice president of sales and marketing, declined to put a value on the transaction but said it was Terion’s "second largest deal" ever and made Hunt Terion’s "largest truckload customer."

Felker told TRANSPORT TOPICS Dec. 22 his company had sold 74,000 tracking units overall, with the most going to the trailer lessor Xtra Lease.

Terion’s FleetView® system "has delivered significant operational improvements," Hunt Chief Executive Officer Kirk Thompson said in a statement.

Hunt, which ranks No. 12 on the TRANSPORT TOPICS 100 list of largest U.S. and Canadian carriers, announced the relationship Dec. 19 after what it said were "several months" of testing and deployment.

The tracking and sensing technologies in combination can "pinpoint the location of our trailers, as well as identify their loaded status, (and have) increased overall trailer utilization," Mark Palmer, J.B. Hunt’s director of trailer operations, said.

Palmer also said that Terion would release a new driver hours-of-service module reporting feature in mid-January that would allow customers including Hunt to define when they want to receive reports about the time used to load or unload trailers.

Terion said that feature provides information on trailers that exceed a "user-defined time period at the dock, allowing the carriers to follow up on the specific issues and/or implement a detention charge."

Hunt’s Thompson said that would "assist us in addressing the challenges related to the impending hours-of-service regulations," which include time spent loading or unloading as well as driving as part of the overall allowable workday.

To access the media archive, click here.