Drop trailer programs make up nearly half of the truckload ecosystem, but despite that scale, many of them are stuck in a bygone era. Around the industry, it’s still common to see teams huddled around whiteboards, juggling spreadsheets and making phone calls to track down trailers. That’s not just old-school, it’s costing shippers and carriers real money because of:
- Time-consuming manual processes
- Lack of real-time visibility
- Inefficient trailer pool management
- Sub-optimal routing
- Risk of theft and fraud
That’s why, at C.H. Robinson, we listened to our customers and carriers and built something new to address these issues. Today, we’re proud to introduced a whole new Asset Management System (AMS), the new force behind our Drop Trailer Plus™ program.
The not-so-secret formula: Telematics and sensors + analytics + scale
With nearly $1 billion in annual business, 10,000 trailers under management every day and 800,000 shipments annually, C.H. Robinson’s Drop Trailer Plus™ program is among the largest in North America. The new AMS is the proverbial operating system that takes our program to the next level in terms of advantage for shippers and carriers.
Integrated with our AI-infused shipper platform Navisphere®, our Drop Trailer Plus program delivered 98.2% accuracy in predictive ETAs even before we added the new AMS. Now, we’re leveling up again. And it’s much more than just a software upgrade.
What sets this new system apart is how it combines smart analytics with real-world telematics and sensor data. Throughout the industry, the information often already existed, but it was dispersed, chaotic, and unmanageable. AMS bundles it into a unified platform that turns trailers in our network into intelligent assets, with real-time visibility and control that simply wasn’t possible before.
Speaking of that network: because we offer C.H. Robinson trailers as well as ones belonging to our contract carriers, we can scale up and down quickly and create customized solutions, for instance by complementing a customers’ private and/or dedicated fleets as demand fluctuates.
The new AMS makes these tailored solutions even more powerful, with its wealth of added insights and analytics. These are advantages that more rigidly structured, assets-based providers simply can’t match.
How it works
Up to every five seconds, AMS acquires data from telematics-enabled trailers and consolidates everything. GPS, cargo sensors, geofence notifications—all that data comes together to give the user a complete, real-time picture of the trailer pool.
But it’s not just about knowing where trailers are, it’s also about understanding what’s inside them. When a purchase order is created, we know what’s expected to be on the trailer. Comparing this to the actual real-life freight affords extra protection from theft and fraud, and it helps us track vital KPIs like fill rates, supplier compliance and total landed cost.
Meanwhile, the platform tracks how long a trailer sits at a facility and triggers automated alerts when dwell limits are exceeded. It all feeds into the unified portal, along with data on inspections, compliance, and real-time trailer status, making scheduling and maintenance easier than ever.
Finally, AMS works with any telematics provider. That means carriers aren’t locked into proprietary hardware or software—they can use their existing systems. At the same time, they have visibility across different customers, all in one portal. That means no more juggling between systems and manual check calls.
Why shippers love AMS
When we built our new AMS, we piloted it with select customers, listening closely to their feedback. The new platform enables:
- 24/7 real-time visibility: Instantly locate every trailer, at rest or in motion, across our fleet and contract carriers’ fleets.
- Maximized utilization and efficiency: Optimized routing and planning with the largest transportation network in North America.
- Increased trailer uptime: Locate the trailers you need, when you need them, in optimal working condition across dry van, refrigerated or flatbed modes.
- Proactive exception management: Get automated notifications about exceptions like late arrivals and idle assets, that allow us to manage them proactively.
- Theft and fraud prevention: Enhance security and mitigate theft and fraud with real-time visibility to both your trailer and inventory.
- Performance scorecards: Track operations by lane, site, or carrier, and key KPIs like utilization and dwell time.
- Stability and scale: Our broad carrier network provides certainty for shippers who can’t risk tender rejections from providers short on tractors, trailers, or drivers.
We created our AMS with both our customers and contract carriers in mind. This is a game changer for both. And, we’re not done. Asset-based trucking companies only track their own equipment. Other 3PLs fall short when it comes to real-time tracking. Only C.H. Robinson can provide this level of scale, trailer availability, advanced analytics and human expertise. And we’ll keep improving the platform going forward.
AMS Is live now—and growing
AMS is active today across C.H. Robinson’s own trailer pool and several contract carriers’ fleets. Expansion is ongoing. As the rollout continues, a growing percentage of our drop trailer loads will benefit from AMS’s visibility and automation.
Learn more about Drop Trailer PlusTM powered by AMS
