Where is my freight and when will it arrive?
Monday morning, 8:40 a.m. A customer calls. His machine is due to arrive in Leipzig today. The installation team is ready and the hall is reserved. When exactly will the truck arrive?
Fifteen years ago the answer would have looked like this: hang up briefly, call the driver, hope he picks up. Then call back and say something like: he's past Dresden, probably another two to three hours. Probably.
Today the answer takes ten seconds. A look at the system, position on the map, calculated arrival 11:52 a.m. Done.
Between these two worlds lies a technological leap that has turned the entire industry upside down. And it deserves an explanation, because many customers do not even know what actually happens in the background.
A truck used to be a black hole as soon as it left the yard. There was the driver on the phone, nothing more. He was in a dead zone, taking a break, sleeping. Dispatchers worked with wall maps, empirical values and gut feeling. Some were really good at it. Nevertheless, it remained guesswork.
Nowadays the vehicle continuously sends its GPS position to a platform, with many systems every 30 seconds. Added to this are status messages: loading completed, journey started, break, unloading in progress. For refrigerated transports, sensors additionally measure the temperature in the cargo area. Everything ends up in a piece of software, and the complete picture of the transport appears on the screen.
So much for the position. The harder part is the arrival time.
ETA is the keyword: Estimated Time of Arrival. The calculation behind it is anything but trivial. Position and remaining distance – fine, any sat-nav can do that. But a 40-tonne truck is not a car. After four and a half hours the driver has to take a 45-minute break, whether it suits or not. After nine hours, that's it for him, full stop. The system has to know and factor in these driving and rest times.
Then there is the traffic. Roadworks, accidents, the rush-hour jam outside Berlin. Weather plays a part. Some systems even know from past journeys that a particular stretch through a town is always slow on Tuesdays, and factor that in.
And the forecast does not stand still. Traffic jam on the route? The arrival time shifts back automatically, without anyone having to make a phone call. Clear road? It moves forward. The customer in Leipzig sees the change at the same moment as the dispatcher.
What does it deliver, bottom line?
There are figures on this: studies speak of up to 30 percent higher delivery accuracy and around 15 percent lower operating costs through real-time tracking. But more important than the statistics is everyday life. The installation team from the example above does not stand around uselessly for four hours. The ramp is not blocked for a truck that will not arrive until the afternoon. And if it becomes apparent that a deadline will be missed, the recipient finds out in the morning and not only when the gate is already closed.
A side effect that should not be underestimated: the constant enquiries stop. Those who can check for themselves do not call. Fewer calls, fewer e-mails, fewer misunderstandings. On both sides.
To be honest, the small print is also part of it.
On German motorways all of this works superbly. On the route towards Georgia or on to Central Asia, things look different. Different countries, different networks, different systems, in some cases none at all. There are sections where tracking becomes patchy, and a freight forwarder should tell its customers this beforehand, not afterwards.
Data protection is the second point. A vehicle that constantly reports its position also reveals the position of the person at the wheel. This has to be handled properly – legally as well as humanly.
And thirdly: the forecast is only as good as its data. A forgotten scan, a wrong status message, and the portal is already showing nonsense. Minute-precise therefore does not mean guaranteed. It means: calculated as well as possible, continuously corrected. Anyone who sells an ETA as an oath has not understood the principle.
Nevertheless, the development is clearly heading in one direction. AI systems are beginning to predict delays before they occur and to re-plan routes accordingly. Telematics and transport software are growing ever closer together. Autonomous trucks will be added at some point, whether in five or fifteen years.
For customers this means: precise information on location and arrival is no longer a bonus you pay extra for. It is standard equipment. A freight forwarder that cannot provide it falls through the net – and rightly so.
At Martin Spedition, shipment tracking on international routes has long been standard, including an honest statement about where it reaches its limits. Anyone who has questions about this or wants to know what it looks like for a specific transport can reach us directly, as always.
FAQ on shipment tracking: real-time tracking, ETA and arrival time in transport
ETA stands for Estimated Time of Arrival, i.e. the expected arrival time of a vehicle at its destination. It is calculated on the basis of the current GPS position and the remaining distance. Unlike a simple sat-nav, modern systems take additional factors into account: the current traffic situation, roadworks, weather, time of day, the driver's statutory driving and rest times, and historical journey-time data from earlier transports on the same route. The forecast is updated continuously. If the truck gets stuck in a traffic jam, the ETA shifts automatically. If it gets through faster, it moves forward. Good systems achieve an accuracy of up to 95 percent.
A GPS receiver in the vehicle or an app on the driver's smartphone records the position of the truck and sends it to a central platform at short intervals. With many systems this happens every 30 seconds. In addition to the position, further data are transmitted: speed, vehicle status and status messages such as "loading completed" or "unloading started". For temperature-sensitive goods, additional IoT sensors measure the temperature in the cargo area. All data are sent via mobile networks to a cloud, where a transport management system processes them and makes them visible to dispatchers and customers.
The term "minute-precise" is an approximation, not a guarantee. According to industry studies, modern ETA systems achieve a forecast accuracy of up to 95 percent. This means that in most cases the calculated arrival time is correct to within a few minutes. Deviations arise from unforeseeable events such as sudden full road closures, border controls or technical problems with the vehicle. Incorrect status messages or forgotten scans can also distort the forecast. Reputable freight forwarders therefore communicate the ETA as the best possible calculated guidance, not as a firm commitment.
Not necessarily. Permanently installed telematics hardware offers the highest accuracy and transmits automatically, without any action by the driver. For subcontractors or smaller fleets, a driver app on the smartphone is often sufficient. It also records position and status messages in real time and is significantly cheaper to introduce. Many freight forwarders work with a combination of both: their own vehicles with built-in telematics and partner vehicles with app-based tracking. What matters is not the hardware alone, but its integration into a transport management system that processes the data and presents them in a meaningful way.
The most important advantage is predictability. The recipient knows when to have staff and ramp space ready for unloading, and does not stand around for hours with a forklift waiting for a truck that will not arrive until the afternoon. In addition, they can react to delays as soon as they become apparent, instead of only finding out when the delivery date has already passed. Many systems offer the recipient a web portal in which they can track the shipment status themselves. This considerably reduces calls and e-mails on both sides and improves cooperation between forwarder and recipient.
In principle yes, but with limitations. On European motorways GPS and mobile networks work reliably, and data transmission runs almost without gaps. On routes towards the Caucasus, Central Asia or through remote areas, the picture is different. Weaker mobile coverage, different or missing telematics systems and partly limited GPS reception mean that tracking can become patchy on certain sections. In such cases the positions are buffered and transmitted as soon as a network is available again. On these routes the ETA calculation is less precise than within the EU.
If a vehicle permanently transmits its position, it also transmits the position of the driver. This is subject to the General Data Protection Regulation. Companies must ensure that the location data are used only for the purpose of the transport and not for covert performance monitoring of drivers. Specifically, this means: encrypted data transmission, clearly defined access rights, transparent information for drivers about the type and scope of data collection, and a documented legal basis for the processing. In practice, many companies rely on a works agreement that regulates who may view which data and how long they are stored.
Real-time tracking is not yet legally required for general road haulage. In practice, however, it has already become the market standard. More and more clients require end-to-end shipment tracking as a basic requirement when selecting their logistics partner. Freight forwarders that cannot provide real-time data are increasingly falling behind. In parallel, regulatory pressure is growing: the EU-wide eFTI Regulation obliges authorities to accept electronic freight documents from mid-2026, further driving the digitalisation of the transport chain. Anyone still working without end-to-end tracking today will lose touch in the medium term.
