Summary
Tanker fleets struggle with patchy cell coverage, remote routes, and monitoring hazardous or temperature-sensitive cargo. TGI Connect solves this by pairing Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) satellite tracking with solar-powered, intrinsically safe hardware (SmartOne Solar) and Bluetooth cargo-temperature probes (Vizicube Smart Sensor). This combination eliminates dead zones, tracks idle trailers, automates geofenced yard checks, and prevents product spoilage.
Why Tanker Tracking
Tanker transportation presents challenges that go well beyond moving a trailer from one location to another. Specialized equipment, hazardous cargo, strict operating requirements, extended customer dwell times and remote operating locations make effective fleet management particularly demanding.
For carriers such as Quality Carriers, KAG and Seaboard Transport Group, tanker trailers represent significant capital investments. Keeping these assets visible, available and productive is essential to controlling costs and maintaining operational efficiency.
Yet conventional cellular tracking systems can struggle in the very environments where tanker operators need visibility most.
TGI Connect combines satellite-based trailer tracking, intrinsically safe hardware and cargo-temperature monitoring sensors to help tanker operators manage their equipment and protect the products they transport.
Why Satellite Changes the Picture
TGI Connect reports over a low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellite network instead of a cellular network, which brings two practical advantages.
No dead zones. Remote routes, rural yards and border crossings stay visible, since the system doesn’t depend on a nearby tower.
Reliable data on idle trailers. Trailers can sit stationary for long stretches, and satellite reporting continues while they do. Systems that depend on movement to wake up and transmit can leave gaps in exactly the situations where you most need to know where an asset is.
On top of that location data, fleets can build custom geofences and landmarks. These drive alerts and reports on yard movements, arrivals, departures and dwell times, and they feed rules for utilization and idle-trailer management.
The Challenge: Tracking Tankers Beyond Cellular Coverage
Tanker fleets frequently operate across geographically dispersed networks of industrial facilities, customer locations, terminals, refineries and remote distribution points. Trailers may remain stationary for days at a customer facility, wash station or terminal before being assigned their next load.
Routes also extend through rural areas where cellular coverage can be inconsistent or unavailable.
Satellite connectivity changes the equation.
TGI Connect uses a low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellite network rather than relying on conventional cellular infrastructure. This provides two important advantages:
- Visibility beyond cellular coverage: Remote routes, rural yards and geographically isolated customer facilities remain accessible without depending on nearby cell towers.
- Consistent reporting while stationary: Location reporting continues even when trailers are sitting idle for extended periods, providing visibility into equipment that movement-dependent tracking systems may overlook.
Using custom geofences and landmarks, fleet managers can also monitor arrivals, departures, yard movements and dwell times. These automated events provide the foundation for more effective utilization reporting and idle-trailer management.
More Than Location: Improving Tanker Fleet Productivity
For tanker operators, knowing where a trailer is located is only the starting point. Understanding how effectively that equipment is being utilized is where the greater operational value emerges.
TGI Connect provides reporting and management tools that help fleet operators:
- Locate trailers faster: Find My Trailer helps drivers and dispatchers locate equipment without walking large yards or making unnecessary phone calls.
- Improve utilization: Dwell, dormancy and movement reports identify underutilized assets, helping reduce unnecessary rentals and potentially defer new trailer purchases.
- Manage customer dwell: Time-stamped arrival, departure and movement records help identify extended customer delays and support detention claims where contractual terms permit.
- Improve maintenance planning: Mileage and runtime reporting provide additional information to support maintenance scheduling and equipment management.
- Automate yard checks: Identify equipment at terminals and customer locations without relying on manual inspections.
For fleets managing hundreds or thousands of specialized trailers, these capabilities can translate into meaningful improvements in asset productivity and operating costs.
Geofencing: Turning Location Data Into Operational Intelligence
Geofencing provides tanker fleet operators with a practical way to improve equipment coordination and reduce unnecessary downtime. By establishing virtual boundaries around customer facilities, refineries, tank wash stations, terminals and maintenance locations, TGI Connect can automatically record when trailers arrive, depart or remain at a location beyond a predetermined period.
Consider a tanker that has completed a chemical delivery and is waiting at a customer facility to be released. Once the trailer leaves the customer location, it enters a designated tank wash facility. After cleaning, it moves to another terminal where it waits for its next loading assignment. With geofencing, each movement can be automatically recorded, providing dispatchers with visibility into where the tanker is, how long it has spent at each location and where delays are occurring.
If a tanker remains at a customer facility longer than expected, an automated dwell alert can notify the appropriate operations personnel. If cleaned equipment is sitting idle at a terminal, dispatchers can identify it and potentially assign it to another revenue-generating load. Over time, this information helps management identify recurring customer delays, wash facility bottlenecks and underutilized equipment.
For tanker carriers, this is particularly valuable because specialized equipment cannot always be substituted with another available trailer. Geofencing turns trailer location data into actionable operational intelligence, helping carriers move tankers through the delivery, cleaning and reassignment cycle more efficiently.
Intrinsically Safe Hardware Designed For Hazardous Environments
Tanker operations introduce another important consideration: equipment safety.
The TGI Connect solution uses the SmartOne Solar, a solar-powered satellite tracking device designed for demanding operating environments. Its intrinsically safe certifications include North American ETL certification for Class I, Division 1 and Zone 0, along with international ATEX/IECEx certification for Zone 0 hazardous locations.
These certifications are particularly relevant when operating around flammable fuels, chemicals, asphalt products and other potentially hazardous materials. They are intended to reduce the risk of the device becoming an ignition source. Operators should always verify certification applicability against their specific hazardous-area classifications, installation requirements and operating procedures.
Additional hardware advantages include:
- Wire-free installation: Solar power and rechargeable batteries eliminate the need for a wired power connection.
- Long-term reliability: A five-year warranty supports long-term deployment.
- Rugged construction: IP68/69K protection and MIL-STD-810G testing support operation through demanding weather, washdowns and vibration.
- Broad temperature tolerance: Certified operating temperature range from -40°C to +65°C.
- Security monitoring: Motion and start/stop reporting, location-change alerts and optional tamper-switch alerts help identify unauthorized movement.
The result is a tracking solution designed to support the realities of tanker fleet operations.
Smart Sensors: Monitoring Tank Temperature
For many tanker operators, knowing where the trailer is does not tell the complete story. Knowing the condition of the cargo can be equally important.
The Vizicube Smart Sensor with Probe extends TGI Connect’s capabilities by measuring internal tank and external ambient temperatures. Using Bluetooth connectivity, the sensor communicates with the SmartOne Solar, which transmits hourly readings over the satellite network.
Fleet managers and drivers can access this information through My Connect Manager, including temperature readings and out-of-range alerts.
This is particularly valuable for temperature-sensitive products such as asphalt, emulsions, hot oils and food-grade syrups.
The benefits include:
- Preventing product solidification: Temperature alerts allow operators to respond before products cool below acceptable operating ranges.
- Reducing rejected loads: Time-stamped temperature records provide supporting documentation when product condition or delivery specifications are questioned.
- Improving load planning: Comparing internal and external temperatures helps dispatchers better understand heat loss and establish appropriate loading temperatures.
- Reducing manual inspections: Digital temperature readings minimize the need for drivers to physically access analog gauges.
The standard sensor is specified for -40°C to +80°C with ±0.5°C accuracy. The probe version is designed for high-temperature product applications. Specific probe configurations, installation requirements and hazardous-location compatibility should be confirmed for each application.
A Smarter Approach to Tanker Fleet Management
Tanker operators face a unique combination of asset-management, connectivity and cargo-protection challenges. Specialized trailers must remain available, customer dwell must be controlled, hazardous operating environments must be considered, and temperature-sensitive products must arrive within specification.
TGI Connect brings these requirements together through three complementary capabilities:
- Satellite-based asset visibility that works beyond conventional cellular coverage.
- Intrinsically safe, solar-powered tracking hardware designed for demanding tanker environments.
- Cargo-temperature monitoring that provides additional protection for temperature-sensitive loads.
The objective is straightforward: help tanker operators keep their equipment visible, their trailers productive and their cargo protected.
About TGI Connect
Welcome to TGI Connect, the trusted leader in trailer tracking and asset management solutions for the transportation and logistics industry, in business since 1992. We specialize in trailer tracking, helping fleets maximize efficiency, visibility, and cost savings with our cutting-edge satellite tracking technology.
Our extended coverage footprint and state-of-the-art satellite connectivity ensure real-time trailer tracking, automated reporting, and seamless data integration, reducing downtime and boosting revenue opportunities. Backed by a dedicated customer service team, we provide proactive account management and a proven track record of reliability, trust, and customer satisfaction.
Partner with TGI Connect to optimize your trailer fleet operations, enhance trailer utilization, and stay ahead in today’s competitive transportation industry. For more information visit www.tgi-connect.com.
Contact TGI Connect Today
Schedule a Demo to learn more about TGI Connect products and services
