Fleet video telematics for fuel tankers in Tanzania

Problem

3RAG Company Ltd is one of the leading bulk fuel transporters in Rwanda with a fleet of over fifty trucks. Established in 2012 and having grown tremendously since, they have taken up a substantial market segment due to their track records for delivery time and safety standards for their customers, who are the major players of the industry with corresponding requirements for services offered to them.

3RAG was unable to obtain one of the contracts for fuel transportation from Tanzania to Rwanda due to not meeting the stringent health, safety, security and environment (HSSE) requirements. To win the tender, they needed to fit each tanker with a tracking device and a CCTV camera system. This would allow them to monitor and regulate driver behavior. In addition, verifiable CCTV footage would be available for monitoring and post-incident analysis.

One of the client’s fuel tankers

Solution

Laiki Technology Limited, doing business as Afritrack, installed Streamax C6D dashboard cameras and a tracker in each of the 23 trucks that were to be used for fuel transportation under the contract.

Then, Afritrack deployed an intelligent fleet video monitoring solution to solve the client’s challenge. The solution has a structure with three on-demand real-time video monitoring options. The client can:

• observe the inside of the cabin with the driver and passenger;
• the road in front of the truck;
• the trailer behind the cabin to check the cargo.

An MDVR installed in the driver’s cabin

Cameras with the in-cabin view ensure that the drivers are not distracted, are not carrying unauthorized personnel, are not smoking, texting or showing signs of fatigue. While frontal cameras help see if drivers are keeping safe distances and are within the convoy, and they also provide forensic evidence in the event of an accident.

The fleet video monitoring solution also captures eco-driving behavior metrics, such as harsh acceleration and braking and sharp cornering. Furthermore, it sends critical alerts in situations, such as illegal camera shutdown, camera cover, or video feed loss. Therefore, a fleet tracking operator knows the real-time condition of the trucks on the roads.
The employed fleet video telematics solution consists of several modules:

• Live streaming module allows live streaming from one or more cameras at the same time. This gives an all-encompassing view of the truck environment.
• Playback module makes it possible for the client to search for and retrieve previously recorded video footage from the camera storage and playback it in the selected time intervals. 
• Alarms module triggers alarms preconfigured for certain situations, such as harsh acceleration or braking, sharp turning, camera cover, or video loss.
• Evidence footage module gives a possibility to watch video clips of 10 to 20 seconds together with alarms. Thus, visual evidence is provided for each alert.

For the client’s convenience, the fleet video monitoring solution is available as a desktop app, online version, and a mobile app.

Afritrack’s specialists compiled a user guide to facilitate the use of the system and provided in-person training sessions for the client’s fleet tracking operators and HSSE team.

Truck drivers initially considered the video monitoring system as their privacy violation and were reluctant to have it onboard. But once the video footage helped defend 3RAGS’s drivers who were not guilty of traffic accidents, the employees started to see the fleet video telematics solution as a savior rather than a disadvantage.