SynX Blog

With the coronavirus pandemic still growing and no solution or vaccine being ready, the future of vans and cars will presumably be different, with car journeys under scrutiny and carried out only if absolutely necessary, while for vans journey the approach will be more towards efficiency, with the need for vans as goods delivery vehicles being clear.

With the need of minimising close contact between people and videoconferencing proposed as an alternative, it seems there will be a reduction in the use of fleet cars and company cars, while van trips are being undertaken as the reason behind them is generally because a delivery is needed or a contractor is required in a particular place.

According to a recent survey carried out by Fleet News, fewer vans than company cars have been standing idle during lockdown. Two-in-five fleets (41.5%) said they were operating more than 75% of their light commercial vehicles (LCVs), while according to more than half the respondents (57.3%) the majority of company cars they operate were not being driven for work. More than two-in-five (43.3%) said that less than a third of the vehicles on their company car fleet were being driven for work.

It seems company cars will probably carry out less journeys as long as COVID-19 is not under control, although business visits will continue to be important as well as company cars as employee benefit. The pandemic will probably lead to a change in our habits and vision connected to company cars.

During the month of June, the fleet and business car market have started to show their first signs of recovery, although they are still far from the usual activity and from the numbers recorded in 2019.

72,550 new company cars have been registered to both fleet and business users in June, a 10-fold increase on the 7,347 company cars sold in the previous month of May, although these are still 46% down on the 133,299 company cars registered in June 2019. Overall numbers show 145,377 new cars registrations.

The market is almost 616,000 units, or 48.5%, behind the same period last year.

Private demand proved more resilient than business, down 19.2% in June with orders made pre-lockdown resulting in 72,827 registrations and accounting for more than half of the market.

According to the SMMT (Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders), which shared the data, "Many of June’s registrations could be attributed to customers finally being able to collect their pre-pandemic orders, but appetite for significant spending remains questionable."

The annual Fleet Transport Awards event, which was scheduled on October 1st, 2020 to take place in Dublin, is going virtual because of the uncertainties around travelling and gatherings.

The 15th edition of the event will focus on the Transport Heros: haulage, logistic companies and passenger transport operators will be celebrated and honoured for their COVID-19 response. The nominations will soon be announced.

The annual Irish Truck of the Year Awards, is also changing and the categories of the Best Fleet Truck Brand of the Year Award 2021 and the Best Fleet Van Brand of the Year Award 2021 will be introduced, with judging criteria here including responses from the truck distributors and fleet operators running multibrand vehicles.

"With an event of its size, we had to consider the health and safety of our patrons, attendees, sponsors and exhibitors. Therefore, we are hosting the Fleet Transport Awards event online on the planned date of Thursday, 1 October 2020,” explained Jarlath Sweeney, Group Editor, Fleet Publications.

“We look forward to getting back to the ‘big stage’ event next year with a special setting but in the meantime we are planning an interesting online presentation of our awards on our set date, presented once again by RTE Radio 1 presenter Shay Byrne,” he concluded.

COVID-19 has already both officially and unofficially imposed changes on the way we do things, but chances are that the list is going to continue.

The lockdown measures and the new normal state in which extreme caution is recommended as well as avoiding possible sources of unnecessary contact have resulted in fleet managers having to control their vehicles from home. Particularly, a survey carried out by Fleet News has shown that a huge majority of fleet managers and decision-makers (around 73% of the interviewed) were working from home while only one in ten was working from home and the office and just around 15% was in the office on a full-time basis.

Those who drive their car for work, that is, the so-called members of what is known as grey fleets, might also see the consequences of that. If employees will become home-based in the future and no longer office-based, the journeys they will take for the purpose of their job will most likely be seen as business trips although they start from the home of the employee - and their contact and conditions might also change accordingly.

With people tending to rely less on public transport to seek for a higher personal security, chances are that personal vehicles would end up being driven for work purposes and become part of the grey fleet - with employers having the legal obligation that those vehicles are safe to be used and fit for their purpose.

If you are looking into controlling your fleet from home (or any other place) or recording and differentiate business and personal trips, be aware this is not something new for us at Transpoco - talk to us to learn how to do it with our fleet management solution.

The data that we can get today from our vehicles and devices are invaluable resources that can help us drive our business forward by making informed decisions. Fleet telematics is helping companies that rely on driving to collect data and convert it in a more digestible format to provide actionable insights on a number of metrics, such as fuel consumption, vehicle activity or driver behaviour, to mention just a few.

We have already dealt with seasonality in fleets in the past and with how telematics and vehicle data) can help companies forecast their fleet workload. In times of COVID-19, that is, the unprecedented period we are all currently living, telematics data can help us determine, through the visualization of effective vehicle activity, what might be the impact of the pandemic and the lockdown not only on transport, logistics and supply chain, but also on the global activity, on when a recovery might be expected and on how we can all get together to help beat the virus and make economy thrive again.

The team at Transpoco has been able to capture the data generated from operating and non-operating vehicles in Ireland thanks to their telematics and tracking system providing updates every 30-60 seconds from working vehicles and every hour from inactive vehicles, and to convert those data into an insightful chart.

The line chart starts on the left side displaying the traffic of a normal week, pre-COVID-19 (see 1st to 7th March). The following 2 weeks refer to the start of the voluntary work from home and to St. Patrick's Day, during which we experienced the first signs of drop in the driving activity. The Transpoco team itself started to work from home.

Between 12th and 27th March, 2020, during the period known as Delay Phase, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar announced the closure of all schools, colleges and childcare facilities until 29th March, one day after the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic, with the total cases in the country ranging from the initial figure of 70 on March 12th to the total of 1,819 cases and 19 deaths confirmed on March 26th. The Delay Phase is matching a 30% decrease in traffic in the aforementioned dates in the vehicle data chart.

During the Stay at Home Phase, which took place from 27th March to 5th May, 2020, traffic in Ireland has dropped a 50%, with lockdown at its peak as well as, unfortunately, the spreading of the virus, that brought the total of 21,772 cases and 1,319 deaths on May 4th.

The data chart continues to mirror the situation in Ireland as it is slowly going back to an 80% of the original traffic towards the end of May, with the start of the Easing of restrictions phase, that started on May 5th and is still ongoing.

This is just an example of how companies and governments could easily obtain this level of business intelligence to support COVID-19 efforts and local communities in the economic recovery.

According to Andrew Fleury, CEO at Transpoco, "The last few months have certainly been one of the most frightening and strangest periods in living memory in terms of public health, but also very worrying from a business perspective. In Ireland, we had little choice but to put the restrictions in place having seen the horrific impact of COVID-19 in continental Europe, but now it seems as though we are gradually moving past the worst of this time and we can begin to put everything back together."

Fleury adds: "We have been monitoring the driving distances of vehicles in Ireland since the start of the pandemic, this data has served as a barometer for the activity of our customers during this time. It is really encouraging to see the businesses getting back to work whilst the public health statistics continue to improve each day. Like everyone else in the world, Transpoco's way of working was disrupted but I am really proud of our team who constantly put customers' needs first and have continued to deliver first class service from our bedrooms, kitchen tables and even our gardens on some of the sunnier days. We know the recovery will be hard, but we are here to help at Transpoco, so if any of our customers need our assistance, please don't hesitate to reach out."

 

Since the lockdown, the spread of COVID-19 has led to changes in protocols in every activity, with the aim of minimising the impact of the illness and avoiding its spread. Now companies are gradually going back to their activity and will need support in preparing their business to be up and running again in a COVID-19 world. This is why the Health and Safety Authority of Ireland has created a series of resources based on the Government’s Return to Work Safely Protocol. 

 

The resources created by the HSA and available on their website consider COVID-19 from different perspectives. What is usually necessary in order to prevent risk is to get an adequate preparation, to share knowledge across the company, to establish roles in the prevention of risks and to have procedures in case of  contact with the risk.

• A return to work form - to be answered by the employees about to resume work;
• A response plan - establishing worker representatives taking responsibilities for the implementation of security measures and regular checks;
• A serie of checklists for the employer - that aim at controlling the preparation of the company, the induction process that should include anti COVID-19 measures, the improved cleaning and disinfection measures and the eventuality of dealing with a case of COVID-19;
• An employee checklist - with a training purpose;
• A worker representative checklist - to help worker representatives understand their roles.

If you wish further help in getting your business relying on driving COVID-19 free you can download our driver checklist or contact us.

Driving is a risky activity and companies that rely on driving, operate vehicles and manage drivers should be very familiar with fleet risk assessment and carry out assessments on a regular basis. Fleet risk assessment ensures that fleets do comply with legislation and, while meeting their duty of care obligations, that they ensure drivers are able to protect themselves and other road users from risks.

COVID-19 has had an important impact on fleets and drivers so far and will continue to have an impact even if the lockdown measures are gradually going to be eased. Therefore, fleet risk assessment, which consists in identifying what can harm people in the workplace, who might be harmed and how, in evaluating the risks and deciding on the appropriate controls, taking into account those already in place, in recording the risk assessment and in reviewing and updating the assessment, will necessarily have to be reviewed because of COVID-19.

In Ireland, in order to help both companies that are resuming work and those who have continued working during the lockdown, the Health and Safety Authority (HSA), together with the Health Services Executive (HSE) and the Department of Health and the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation have issued The Return to Work Safely Protocol, that can be found on the Gov.ie website.

In the UK, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial strategy has released guidance for people who work in or from vehicles, including couriers, mobile workers, lorry drivers, on-site transit and work vehicles, field forces and similar. The COVID-19 guide for those who work with vehicles can be found on the Gov.uk website.

If you need further guidance on how to work with vehicles while protecting employees and users from COVID-19, contact us.

The COVID-19 pandemic is obviously impacting on drivers and companies that rely on driving and different organisations have launched initiatives to help operators going through this difficult time throughout UK and Ireland.

Starting from the UK, FTA has recently launched a COVID-19 advice hub that is focusing on supporting the logistics and transport industry during the pandemic. Having recognised the difficulties some members are facing, FTA has also launched the Logistics Efficiency Network Service (LENS), an exchange portal that companies could use to share and discuss availability of their fleet during the COVID-19 period or to post their requirements of additional vehicles or personnel to transport goods during this period.

In Ireland, FTAI released this "Stay safe" video particularly dedicated to drivers. You can find further information on their website at ftai.ie:

The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport inaugurated the COVID-19 National Logistics Forum on 16th April 2020. The Forum is collecting data to create an open database that will advertise what capacity is available in the sector, in order for it to be utilised to keep supply lines open. You can contribute filling out their form or contact the COVID-19 National Logistics Forum at nationallogisticsforum@cilt.ie.