Kempen Transport drives safer and saves costs with Trimble's Video Intelligence

Kempen Transport will install Video Intelligence in all 120 trucks. With the video images of this Trimble solution, the fruit and vegetables transporter is able to adequately handle damage claims, reduce damage costs and improve the driving behaviour of their drivers. Tim Wijnen, IT manager at Kempen Transport: “Video Intelligence gives drivers a safer feeling. Moreover, they don’t have to answer for every damage all the time.”

Kempen Transport specializes in conditioned groupage transport. With a fleet of 120 trucks and 140 trailers, this transport company delivers fresh fruit and vegetables to retailers, wholesalers and processors throughout the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, including Switzerland, Austria and Italy.

Since 2011, all tractors have been equipped with a CarCube, Trimble’s on-board computer. The data this on-board computer provides about the hours worked, serves as input for FleetHours, Trimble’s software for wage and expense calculation.

One of those innovations is Video Intelligence, the solution that enables transport companies to reconstruct incidents and improve driving behaviour using video images.

The images that the wide-angle cameras take of their surroundings are saved using a digital video recorder (DVR) and kept for 72 hours. Kempen Transport can request specific images via a secure web portal. The company can then use these images to process claims.

Kempen Transport also wants to use the video images in the training of drivers. To do this, Video Intelligence links the video images to the telematics data from the Trimble on-board computer. If this data shows that a driver is braking too hard or turning a corner at too high a speed, the corresponding images are automatically displayed in the web portal.

The driving behaviour of drivers is extremely important because Kempen Transport transports vulnerable products. If the load shifts too much, the fruit and vegetable products can easily be damaged.

The decision to provide the entire fleet with Video Intelligence was taken after extensive testing. A number of tractors have been equipped with a front camera this past year.

The test went well, agrees Wijnen. “We have experienced that Video Intelligence offers a lot more options than a standard dashcam. In addition, the image quality has positively surprised us. We got a very clean picture, which gave us a good overview of the situation every time. The web portal generally shows us frames of twenty seconds, but we can also request a five-minute fragment, if necessary.”

The drivers also benefit from Video Intelligence, says Wijnen.

Are the drivers positive about the implementation of Video Intelligence? The drivers who took part in the test are, Wijnen knows. “We also have drivers who are somewhat skeptical. Who get the feeling that we are watching them. But they also had that feeling when we equipped all tractors with an on-board computer nine years ago. Now nobody wants to drive without an on-board computer anymore. They now know that we do not use them to constantly monitor them. That also applies to this camera. Moreover, the camera only registers what is happening in front of the car, not inside of it. And we also cannot hear what the driver is saying.”

Kempen Transport takes care of the mounting and installation of the wide-angle cameras themselves. Their mechanics are trained for this by Trimble specialists. “We hope to be finished with it by the end of March,” said Wijnen.

Will the investment in Video Intelligence pay for itself? The answer to that question was not the deciding factor in the decision to implement this solution, Wijnen emphasizes.