With Christmas just around the corner, it’s time to breathe a sigh of relief and relegate 2021 to a (very) distant memory.
While it hasn’t all been bad for the transport industry, a rocky year of uncertainty, COVID-19 and lockdowns has made 2021 another difficult year. Everyone is looking forward to the promise of a new year, and a 2022 full of successful work and in-person events, albeit with several new COVID-19 policies.
The optimistic question on everyone’s lips then becomes: what does 2022 actually hold? Well, thankfully for the transport industry, it’s mainly good news.
As a result of the multiple extended lockdowns, the transport industry missed out on several key conferences and events happening in 2021. One of these, the New Zealand Rail Conference, has luckily been postponed to February 2022. Key topics to be discussed include light rail in Auckland, innovation and technology for rail safety, and customer expectations. And the Hilton, Auckland, will make a refreshing change from screens on Zoom!
Another unmissable event happening next year is the Freight Futures Summit 2022, where it’ll explore solutions to the ongoing freight and logistics challenges experienced by national businesses. The discussions will provide an opportunity for future strategic development of New Zealand transport infrastructure as a whole, because it brings delegates from air, road, sea, and rail together with supply chain leaders.
Yet this is only a taste of what 2022 has to offer. With more events like the Transportation Group 2022 Conference, the TMC Trailers Trucking Industry Show, and Materials Handling and Logistics, the New Zealand transport industry has a promising range of valuable networking and growth ahead.
It’s important to remember that with most (if not all) of these events, vaccinations will be mandatory to gain entry. In fact, processes throughout the transport industry will change in 2022 as a result of COVID, with the most basic ones including mandatory masks, social distancing, and QR code scanning.
While strict policies are in place to keep everyone safe, the transport industry can look forward to a successful year with innovative technologies for various needs. And a lot of these needs will stem from a greater focus on sustainability, as a result of the COP26 climate conference in November.
When considering sustainability and technology, telematics like fleet tracking and driver scorecards, can help organisations track and monitor fuel usage, and encourage drivers to drive sustainably. You can now delve into each event that contributed to a specific metric per driver and see the information for it on a map which creates fairer leader boards for drivers and helps you better understand overall and individual performance.
Further tech highlights to watch for are Teletrac Navman’s GPIO and out of hours alerts. GPIO (general purpose input output) is all about connecting sensors inside and around assets to telematics. This helps customers better understand the processes around the vehicle.
Out of Hours alerts may sound simple, but they can effectively prevent vehicles being stolen, or misused outside working hours. They do this through customised schedules that alert the fleet manager when individual vehicles are moved at times they shouldn’t be. A secure fleet is a successful one!
All in all, 2022 is shaping up to be a year of growth and learning for the transport industry. With the upcoming events and technologies to take advantage of, companies have numerous opportunities at their fingertips. We look forward to seeing you all in 2022 – until then, we wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season with loved ones.
*Megan Duncan is Australasia director of marketing at Teletrac Navman.
