TISS Trailer Security (Trucking, July 2002) has extended its product range to include anti-theft devices which can be moved from trailer to trailer. TISS was formed in 1999 by Brian Wholey, and designs and manufactures security devices including LoadSafe, CurtainSafe, TankSafe and TrailerSafe products.
LoadSafe is a setup where linked sensors are fitted around the truck and trailer sides. If the link is broken, a 120 dB alarm, visual strobe light, and/or a text message to a nominated mobile phone are activated. GPS/GSM tracking will also send the location of the vehicle to a PC or mobile phone. The costs are 8.5p for every download plus £10 per month for every vehicle, although TISS admits the client could provide their own mobile SIM card if they wished.
TISS is aware of the practice of perpetrators using CS or other gases to incapacitate drivers as they sleep and gain access to their cabs. So LoadSafe can be set to detect gas inside the cab and, as an attack message can be sent to four people simultaneously, one could be another driver parked nearby.
LoadSafe can work to predetermined geographical zones, and the system can be programmed with a set of co-ordinates. “You could disarm at RDCs for example and, as the truck leaves the site it automatically arms itself,” Ryan explained.
At the heart of the product is a four digit code box, which can also be accessed remotely. “The good news is LoadSafe is now fully transferable using brackets”, Brian said. “This means the haulier doesn’t have to buy 300 units if he only requires the system for 50 or so at any one time.”
Brian explained that the ideal customers for LoadSafe are those transporting high value goods across international borders, or where there is a real threat of theft or entry by illegal immigrants. TISS reckons seven million illegal immigrants enter Europe each year.
Unwanted passengers aside, Brian pointed to the increasing threat or theft from trailers – attended or unattended. The figure of loss from theft is somewhere in the region of £240 million in the UK, while Europe-wide it’s around £7 billion.
Fines for carrying illegal immigrants has been well documented, but TISS pointed to other lesser know costs, such as repairs to equipment or steep rises in insurance premiums. This is where TISS claims investment in any of its products will be recouped fairly rapidly.
LoadSafe starts at £2.50 per week per unit, which be paid for through insurance discounts, typically running at an average of 7-8 per cent. Ryan has a letter from John Peers (www.truckinsurance.com), a specialist commercial vehicle insurer, which shows one operator save £9000 a year after they got a 15 per cent discount on their goods-in-transit insurance, and five per cent off their total fleet premium after they installed a TISS system.
“We’ve also found hauliers working for larger groups have security devices fitted as a prerequisite,” said Brian. “Blue chip manufacturers now set parameters which hauliers must adhere to, especially those in the mobile phone, computer and high-value fashion sectors.” Current TISS clients include British Airways, Tesco, Norfolk Line and Boots.
Ryan explained the company’s CurtainSafe (slashproof curtain) can protect loads where, in theory, a curtain-sider could be used in place of a box van. Not only can the curtain be wrapped in the lightweight synthetic woven slashproof material, but it can be alarmed as well. So should the shipping client agree, the advantages for the haulier in finding backloads would be huge. “We see CurtainSafe as having the flexibility of a curtain-sider with the security of a box van,” Ryan said.
CurtainSafe can be retrofitted to any curtain, new or old. The woven composite material is much lighter than metal braiding adding an average of 6 kg to a standard 13.5 m x 1 m high curtain. CurtainSafe is also impact and fire resistant.
TankSafe is a bolt-on anti siphon device that fits into the neck of the fuel tank. TISS says TankSafe, which retails at £80, prevents theft by employees, or other third parties. “You only need to save 114 litres of diesel for it to have paid for itself,” said Brian. “One customer with 100 tractor units was losing £5000 month until he fitted TankSafe.”
TrailerSafe is a trailer security and management software package which is PC-based. Like all tracking systems, the TrailerSafe programme can be set to plot the position every 10, 15 (or whatever) minutes. “With this, a lot of clients prefer covert systems,” Ryan said.
No other truck manufacturer has such a detailed system as TISS.
