Fuel automation and dual telematics integration in cold-chain logistics

Lider Gıda A.Ş. runs a cold-chain fleet of 750 tractor units and 470 refrigerated trailers that require precise temperature control. From 2 fuel tanks and 2 pumps at the Samsun campus, an average of ~24,000 liters a day is dispensed — around 8.8 million liters a year.

Before the system was installed, volume at that scale was managed entirely by hand, on manual forms and paper records. Because data was only compiled at the end of the day, control was always delayed, and manual entry errors compounded operational risk.

In cold chain the real difficulty is that the unit of measurement splits in two: a tractor unit's consumption is measured in kilometers, while a trailer's refrigeration unit is measured in operating hours. With trailer engines not tracked separately, how much fuel went into hauling versus cooling was unknown. And because no record showed which tractor unit was pulling which trailer, consumption could not be attributed between the two.

An advanced site automation system was installed at the Samsun campus: 2 tanks were placed under level monitoring and 2 pumps were automated through control units. Every fill is now recorded automatically with vehicle, driver, quantity and time.

Tractor units were fitted with RFID identification. At the moment of fuelling, the system automatically pairs which tractor unit is pulling which refrigerated trailer, so the fuel a trailer consumes is instantly tied to the tractor unit it travelled with.

To read vehicle data without error, API integrations were built with two separate telematics systems. Odometer values for the 750 tractor units are pulled automatically from Arvento and Seyir Mobil; refrigeration engine hours for the 470 trailers are read automatically, giving per-trailer consumption rates.

All of that data — tractor odometer, trailer engine hours, fill volume and the tractor-trailer pairing — is pushed through real-time web services into the in-house ERP developed by Lider Gıda. Central management and accounting now run without manual data entry.