GenLogs, an asset intelligence platform, announced Wednesday it will begin offering a free investigative service to help the freight industry recover stolen or missing equipment.
Open to carriers, brokers and shippers alike, the service allows users to submit details of missing assets to GenLogs. In response, GenLogs will use its nationwide network of roadside sensors to determine the asset’s last known location and set real-time alerts for tracking.
Related: Fraud Watch: Uncovering the dark side of freight
This initiative is part of GenLogs’ broader mission to rid the freight industry of fraud and theft, a problem that costs the industry $800 million annually. According to Ryan Joyce, co-founder and CEO of GenLogs, the company aims to ensure that freight theft doesn’t jeopardize the livelihoods of drivers who power the economy.
“If an owner-operator has his truck or trailer stolen, then his entire livelihood is at risk – and there is no way we would hand him a bill in his greatest time of need,” Joyce told FreightWaves in an email. “GenLogs has always been a force for good for the industry, and we are going to help the little guys and the big guys alike as they all face the common problem of fraud and theft.”
GenLogs’ technology, developed by a team of former U.S. national security professionals, employs roadside sensors and cameras installed at private facilities and GenLog cameras across the U.S. to collect data on trucks and equipment. The static sensors collect vehicle data while filtering out private vehicles and excluding any driver information.
The company has already made significant strides, recovering over 400 stolen or misused trailers in the past four months. GenLogs’ system uses what Joyce calls a “Find-Fix-Finish” methodology inspired by U.S. counterterrorism efforts.
The former CIA operations officer drew on his experience tracking terrorist networks to execute the company strategy.
“In one of my field tours, our ops center was in the basement of a safehouse and we had a TV on the wall that had 24/7 streams of drones circling overhead. That helped us find one person within a country of 250 million people,” he explained. “I knew that if we had thousands of electronic eyes deployed on the roads, we could easily find one out of the 10 million trucks and trailers in the USA. We used to track terrorists, and now we track trucks.”
The service takes in data from roadside sensors, geospatial intelligence and AI to uncover patterns, track missing assets and assist law enforcement in finding theft rings.
The effectiveness of GenLogs’ technology has been validated by industry leaders.
Werner Enterprises (NASDAQ:WERN) praised the platform for its ability to improve asset recovery and operational efficiency.
“GenLogs technology has provided us with an advanced tool for locating the needle in the haystack, helping our team identify who is using our trailer and improving recovery time,” said Ben Murphy, Werner’s vice president of maintenance and equipment, in an email.
Joyce underscores how the software empowers freight brokers and carriers with unparalleled visibility as well.
Don Everhart, head of partnerships and strategy at Transflo, was also impressed by the company’s solution. “Five years from now there will be two types of freight brokers: those that use GenLogs and those that went out of business,” he told FreightWaves.
By offering its investigative service for free, GenLogs hopes to build trust and cooperation across the freight industry.
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