1 Introduction

The essence of the modern transport and forwarding market is the mobile infrastructure. The possibility of using computer systems, changes in the road infrastructure, the implementation of autonomous vehicles is the nearest future for this industry. However, enterprises struggle with the current problems of efficient management of the transport fleet. The authors of the article analyze the literature on the subject and present research on the current state of the transport market with regard to the use of IT systems. The level of the use of cars by transport and non-transport companies (those whose main activity is not transport services) was presented. The systems supporting transport activities and their development possibilities were analyzed. The aim of the article is to analyze the use of IT systems in transport and shipping and to present the possibilities and directions of innovation in this area.

Undoubtedly, there is a large offer of software for logistics on the market, especially for transport. All companies offering software compete in new solutions. More and more ideas appear on the market to improve transport processes using IT systems. Strong competition in the market causes the phenomenon that companies use various third-party software. In the conducted research, it was pointed out that the use of one program that would include all IT solutions for transport management would be a great help.

2 The idea of Mobile infrastructure - the Possibility of Using it in Transport and Forwarding

Transport is one of the key logistics processes. It is an ambiguous concept and may denote a set of activities, a branch of the economy, or a field of knowledge [1]. “Transport describes activities related to the movement of a company’s material resources in supply chains. From a service point of view, it is an important complement to service delivery” [2]. It is “a process directly responsible for the movement of loads between the links of the supply chains/networks using appropriate technical means” [3]. It covers the activities of moving raw materials and finished products between the links in the supply chain [4] and is aimed at providing the customer with added value [5]. In the literature on the subject, there are many classifications of transport, and the most popular division into land (rail, road, pipeline), water (inland and sea) and air transport [6]. “The transport system is an organized whole of all modes of transport operating with the use of infrastructure, in a specific area” [7].

In practice, we are dealing with logistics services. It is part of the logistics service and, apart from transport activities, also includes forwarding, terminal services, cross-docking, etc. [6, 8]. Economic and technical considerations seem to be the most important in the provision of a transport service [9]. Transport services can be considered from various perspectives: in the narrow sense of transport, in a broader sense as transport enriched with reloading, picking and consulting activities performed by forwarding unit [10].

At the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, a new term appeared in the literature: Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) [11, 12]. ITS is a rich set of various technologies: telecommunications, information technology, automation and measurements [13]. These systems allow you to plan routes, monitor and control the organization of transport, visualize and supervise transport activities. ITS also applies to urban transport. It is the cities that will have a key influence on the creation of mobility plans and, due to the potential of a given city, on the development of the economy, society and the environment [14, 15]. The future looks in the colors of innovation in the field of urban, delivery and individual transport, which also affects intelligent traffic [16].

Industry 4.0, including automation, will have a significant impact on the sustainable development of the economy [17, 18]. The impact of the market structure on investment is an important topic in the mobile industry [19]. According to research by the American Council of Logistics Management, transport is a leader in the use of the Internet in supply chains with a 56.2% share [20]. IT systems dedicated to transport and shipping are very different, and companies can choose among them according to individual needs. Transport management is also supported by additional modules of APS systems helping in optimization of the routes and the sequence of deliveries and transports [21]. The most popular in the field of transport are telematics systems. “Telematics is a department of telecommunications dealing with issues related to the transmission of messages in the form of a static image (alphanumeric text, graphics, photographs and other objects)” [22]. They operate mainly on the basis of GPS systems. The GPS carrier is located in the vehicle and the signal is transmitted via the satellite to the computer system [23]. GPS is the Global Positioning System, i.e. a satellite system for locating objects on the globe [22]. Therefore, it performs localization and communication functions. Automatic positioning (without operator control) can be done by determining geographic coordinates (GPS) and comparing this position with the map, indicating the location of the mobile station (GPS) or reading the position from transmitters or markers using microwave, infrared or electromagnetic transporters [24]. GPS systems are a tool of the so-called mobile infrastructure.

The mobile infrastructure consists of one or more sensors in a fixed configuration on a mobile platform. Marker sets are attached to the objects or entity that we want to locate [25]. There are two ways to locate the position of a device or object. The first is the use of a positioning system, such as GPS, GSM [26] or location based on a TV signal [27] but is only accurate to several dozen meters, or WIFI, which likewise requires extensive preparation and calibration [28,29,30,31,32]. There are many benefits that can be achieved with new technologies such as: telecommunications, wireless WIFI networks, global GSM mobile communication systems, GPS location systems. All of them make up the concept of mobile infrastructure [33] that is crucial for future development of transport and forwarding.

The direction of logistics development is undoubtedly the automation of logistics processes. It can be said that logistics is a key factor of competitiveness in the production sector due to the possibility of implementing innovations [34]. New trends and solutions are undoubtedly related to IT systems. Automation of warehouse processes [35], implementation of robots facilitating the implementation of activities in the warehouse [36], better control of processes and activities, autonomous vehicles, transport exchanges, etc. Also mobile infrastructure are those activities that will be the future for all logistics, and in particular transport [37,38,39]. The development of logistics and its new trends are mainly determined by economic factors, such as new forms of trade, changes in demand and supply, labor supply and labor costs, globalization, universal access to the Internet [39, 40]. It can therefore be concluded that logistics is one of those areas of management that is the future and is susceptible to all kinds of innovations.

3 Methodology

Technology is the flywheel of the modern economy. The aim of the research was to analyze the current level of use of IT systems in transport and forwarding. The analysis was carried out in two groups of: non-transport and transport companies (this group also included forwarding and transport-forwarding companies). The analysis was based on a questionnaire survey conducted in 2020. The questionnaire was completed by 200 respondents. A random sample was applied, and the companies participating in the research were based in Poland. The table below (Table 1) presents the number of surveyed entities broken down by the size and market of operations.

Table 1 The classification of surveyed entities
Full size table

Enterprises were divided into size categories according to the number of employees. 30% of the surveyed entities are companies included in the group of transport companies, and non-ransport companies represent 70%.

The research comprised of 2 parts. The first was the statistical frequency analysis of specific aspects concerning systems supporting transport management. For this purpose simple rate index was used. The second part was the creation of probit model.

The model was developed the way it would be able to explain what are the main factors determining if the telematics system is or is not used by the transport and forwarding company. For this purpose authors created statistical probability probit model which calculates the probability of the use of telematics system by the company. The probit model was chosen to the analysis as the one which has two-level output. In this specific case these two outputs were: the company uses telematics system (dependent variable’s value equals to 1), the company does not use telematics system (dependent variable’s value equals to 0).

To calculate the probability authors used the formula (1) for the probability of occurrence of the event in the probit model [41]:

$${p}_{i}=prob\left[{Y}_{i}=1|X\right]={\upvarphi }\left({x}_{i}^{{\prime }}\beta \right)={\int }_{-\infty }^{{x}_{i}^{{\prime }}\beta }{\left(2\pi \right)}^{-\frac{1}{2}}exp\left(-\frac{{t}^{2}}{2}\right)dt$$
(1)

\({\upvarphi }\)– distribution function of the normal distribution,

\({x}_{i}^{{\prime }}\beta\) – linear combination of independent variables:

$${x}_{i}^{{\prime }}\beta ={\beta }_{0}+{\beta }_{1}{x}_{1}+\dots +{\beta }_{k}{x}_{k}$$
(2)

The interpretation of \(\beta\) coefficients obtained in the model is limited. It can only be used to indicate the direction of the relationship. To assess the strength of the dependence authors performed the calculation of the marginal effect for changing the value of the xk variable when the other variables remain constant. The following formula was used [41]:

$$\frac{\partial {p}_{i}}{{\partial X}_{ik}}=\phi \left({x}_{i}^{{\prime }}\beta \right){\beta }_{k}$$
(3)

\(\phi\) – probability density function of a standard normal variable.

Gretl software was used in computing the model. Its output was dependent of three indepentent variables as:

  • fleet – this variable can take the following values: 0 for no fleet, 1 for 1 car owned, 2 for 2–5 cars, 3 for 6–10 cars, 4 for 11–20 cars, 5 for 21–40 cars, 6 for 41–100 cars and 7 for a fleet of 101 and more.

  • countries – the range of activity is measured by the number of countries where the entity operates. The values for this variable in this specific model range from 1 to 22.

  • size – the size of the company can take on 4 different values: 1 for micro, 2 for small, 3 for medium, 4 for large company.

4 Results

The development of the economy is driven by the innovations in technology and information systems. The broadly understood mobile infrastructure also includes IT tools for effective management of transport and forwarding. In the conducted research, enterprises based in Poland were analyzed in terms of applied IT solutions and potential development prospects. In the first part, the respondents were asked about the use of informatic systems for transports in their companies. The results are presented in the table below (Table 2). Informatic systems for transports are mainly dedicated to transport and forwarding companies. Hence, the research sample was divided into two types of enterprises: transport and non-transport.

Table 2 The use of IT solutions supporting transport management
Full size table

Most of the surveyed transport companies use transport management systems. It seems that without them, the operation of the current transport companies is difficult. These systems allow users to identify vehicles using a GPS signal. However, it may turn out that not all companies want to have such systems. Companies that delegate fleet management to specialists do not necessarily have to have this type of system. Similarly, when the car is driven only by the owner, there is no need to control operations using sophisticated IT systems.

It is also interesting that almost half of the non-transport companies use IT solutions supporting management systems. This may be related to the company’s own private use of the car fleet. Then there is also a need to control the transported materials and the working time of employees.

Currently, GPS systems are factory-installed in new trucks. In the case of using automatic tracking systems, as well as autonomous vehicles, it could seem that companies should use a fleet of one brand. In practice, it turns out that in transport companies there is no attachment to one car brand. The key factors, however, are the financial aspects and technological capabilities of vehicles. The chart below presents statistics showing the use of individual cars with the breakdown of vehicle brands (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1
figure 1

Percentage of companies using the specific number of vehicle brands in a fleet

Full size image

Most of the surveyed companies own 3 to 5 car brands (65%). 95% of the companies own more than 1 car brand in their fleet. Hence, the key seems to be to use universal fleet management programs, not only those dedicated to a given vehicle brand. GPS systems should be prepared towards universal reception by all systems. As is the future IT software for autonomous vehicles fleet management. From the above results, it may turn out that entrepreneurs will not want to stick to a single brand of autonomous vehicles, but will focus on diversifying their vehicle fleet.

In the case of enterprises whose main activity is not transport, it was checked what are the forms of acquiring cars for auxiliary activities of the enterprise. The results were presented in the table below (Table 3).

.

Table 3 The form of acquiring the vehicle by non-transport companies
Full size table

Research shows that as many as 37.7% of companies have their own transport fleet. This result shows that not only transport companies should be the target customer of mobile infrastructure operators, but also other enterprises in which transport is an auxiliary activity. Moreover, as many as 48% of the surveyed companies use the transport of cooperators in the supply chain. Thus, the use of telematics and transport management systems should not be limited to the owner of the fleet. Currently, more and more partners from the supply chain demand an access to the GPS signal and the possibility of tracking the vehicle and cargo. This is another direction that should be taken into account when standardizing transport management systems. An analysis of the forms of transport management systems used by companies was presented in the figure below (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2
figure 2

The use of systems which support transport management*

Full size image

* The average was calculated from the entire sample, also where the answer was not indicated whether it is a transport or non-transport company.

The most common systems among transport companies are telematic systems that indicate the current location of cars using GPS systems and freight exchanges, which are mainly used to display and search for transport services. Nearly half of transport companies use systems which support route accounting, work time management, fleet management and fuel accounting. What is interesting, the use of ERP systems in transport companies is much lower than in non-transport companies. The above analysis shows that it is mostly transport companies that use a wide range of IT systems for transport, in which you can manage the fleet, transport orders, monitor fuel consumption, and settlement of drivers’ work. In the next stage of the research, the form of used GPS systems was checked, as shown in the figure below (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3
figure 3

The use of GPS systems

Full size image

The distribution of the results obtained was almost even. 30% of respondents use vehicles with an integrated GPS system, 35% use GPS in external devices such as TomTom, and another 30% use GPS systems dedicated only to telematics systems. However, the use of GPS systems is very much dependent on the range of business activity, as shown in the figure below (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4
figure 4

Specific types of GPS systems used in companies with different range

Full size image

There were no companies with local operations which used GPS system in its operations. Companies under research with regional and global scale of operations did not use GPS systems pre-installed in vehicles which is the most common type in case of entities with international operations. GPS systems, and thus telematics systems, are used to the greatest extent in the operations on the international market. It is the main form of supervising the course of the transport service, the driver, and the safety of the cargo. It is in the case of high-value loads that freight owners demand full control of their journeys and sharing the current location of the vehicles.

The differences in the use of transport systems were presented in the next table (Table 4). The results indicate the level of the use of transport management systems with the division into two groups: transport and non-transport entities.

Table 4 The analysis of the use of transport systems based on GPS
Full size table

Most of respondents indicated that their transport companies use transport management systems. GPS systems are even more commonly used for business operations. It should be emphasized that almost half of the surveyed companies indicated that they use transport management systems. Therefore, when creating the offer of transport management software, one cannot focus only on transport companies.

Tracking the shipment in real time is essential in the transport activity, especially when it comes to high-value shipments. The table below (Table 5) shows the possibilities of tracking the fleet position in computer programs.

Table 5 The possibility of real-time fleet position tracking in single program
Full size table

The vast majority of transport companies have the ability to track their own and external shipments in real time. Such solutions provide systems for tracking the GPS signal of one’s own fleet, as well as freight exchanges. More and more producers of software for transport fleet management provide the option of sharing the location of cars. In addition, individual companies were established that provide this location based on the VIN numbers of cars or GPS devices.

Vehicle tracking is not the only problem faced by companies operating in the transport market. The table below (Table 6) presents the challenges in improving the functioning of companies on the transport market.

Table 6 Problems and challenges in the transport market
Full size table

The largest number of respondents pointed to the problems specific to each industry – low rates for the service and low demand. From this article’s perspective, the following seem to be the most important: problems with documentation flow, problems related to the management of vehicles and drivers, dishonesty of drivers. These are problems that could be solved by the developed mobile infrastructure in the field of transport and forwarding. In this regard, existing transport management systems should be improved. In addition, the respondents indicate problems related to high labor costs and the lack of qualified employees to drive vehicles. The solution to these problems seems to be autonomous vehicles, which represent the highest level of development of mobile infrastructure in the field of transport at the moment. The areas to improve in terms of transport were presented in detail in the table below (Table 7).

Table 7 The needs of improvement in transport management
Full size table

Regarding to the improvement of transport systems, the respondents indicated all of the above answers. The distribution between transport and non-transport companies is very similar. Thus, the requirements for transportation software are not dependent on the running of transportation activity as the foundation of the enterprise. However, the key issues seem to be creating routes and monitoring car journeys in real time. It should be noted that the assortment in the field of software for transport companies is wide, but there is no single software that would meet all the needs of enterprises.

The second part of the research was the development of the probit model explaining the possibility of implementing telematics system by transport company with independent variables as: fleet count, countries where the company operates and size. The parameters of the model were shown below (Table 8).

Table 8 Probit model – values describing the implementation of telematics system in transport and forwarding companies
Full size table

According to the results of probit model developed for this research the fleet size and the number of countries where assessed companies operate have positive impact on whether it uses telematics system. Both effects turned out to be statistically significant. Increasing the fleet into the higher class specified in the research made the probability of implementing telematics system higher by 9.92% points. Expanding operations by one country increased that probability by 6.84% points. Variable describing the size of the company had negative effect on implementing telemetics system but was statistically not relevant.

5 New Trends and Possibilities in Using Mobile Infrastructure in Transport and forwarding - discussion

IT systems define the activity of every modern company. In the analyzed industry of transport and forwarding services, mobile infrastructure seems to be of key importance. The presented research analyzes the market of transport services and the level of use of IT systems to improve their operations. One of the key systems are those for tracking the location of cars. The idea behind the operation of these systems is presented in the figure below (Fig. 5).

Fig. 5
figure 5

Diagram of central communication of telematics systems using GPS

Full size image

The main aspect of GPS system’s operation is to send a signal from individual cars to the system, which shows the location of a given vehicle on the map. These systems are used in computer programs dedicated only to the location of vehicles. In addition, they are used in freight exchanges and platforms that provide the location of cars. It is a novelty on the market and is the answer for the needs of customers’ for whom transport services are provided. The platforms provide a link to the maps on which you can track a given vehicle. Before that, one must enter the VIN number of the car that has a built-in GPS system or another device that supports this signal. Thanks to this, each of the market users can have access to this location. The idea of sharing locations for cooperators is already offered by most programs using GPS signals. However, there is no standardization of software for transport. The future of the transport industry is in an extensive mobile infrastructure and autonomous cars. An earlier necessity, is the standardization of transport systems. Today, managers who want to effectively manage their resources must use appropriate computer software. ERP programs are the answer for large and medium-sized enterprises that combine solutions in the field of production, warehouse management, inventory control, accounting, human resources, fixed assets management, etc. Some also have solutions dedicated to transport. Unfortunately, companies that want to effectively manage a transport fleet are forced to use many programs with different functions and not always compatible. Hence the idea of ​​standardizing the programs dedicated to transport and extending their scope of activity to the entire supply chain. It is presented in the figure below (Fig. 6).

Fig. 6
figure 6

The idea of standardizing transport management systems

Full size image

As can be seen from the above research, companies using transport are not only those whose transport is the basis of their activity, but also other industries in which the movement of goods in the supply chain is a necessity. The main idea is the implementation of a single program that will be a response to the emerging mobile infrastructure. Such a transport management system should have the following capabilities:

  • entering and modifying transport orders,

  • identification of the transport fleet and drivers, as well as managing them,

  • the ability to track cars in real time by all partners in the supply chain,

  • the ability to plan optimal routes taking into account current road conditions and sending specific information to the driver,

  • standardization of GPS systems for the entire fleet,

  • the ability to send car locations for all companies in a given supply chain,

  • downloading data from freight exchanges,

  • sending information from drivers about the current situation,

  • documentation management (creating orders, waybills, invoices and archiving),

  • creating drivers’ settlements for their work,

  • supervision of the actual working time of the driver (checking the working time of a given driver in real time),

  • monitoring fuel consumption,

  • controlling records of vehicles, their mileage and inspections,

  • vehicle malfunction communication,

  • access to current information on changing regulations.

The above-mentioned elements will contribute to the development of the effectiveness and efficiency of the resources controlled by the company. The standardization of systems and the possibility of using a single one will contribute to easier management of the fleet, as well as faster circulation of documents between market participants.

6 Conclusion

Nowadays, logistics is present at every facet of our lives, especially in the activities of enterprises. Its effectiveness largely depends on implemented IT systems. The future of logistics is connected with automation, which is increasingly used in the activities of enterprises. Mobile infrastructure is the direction of development of the modern economy.

The article presents the results of questionnaire research indicating the level of use of IT systems for transport and forwarding processes. The analysis was based on transport companies and those not dealing with transport as their basic activity. The conclusion resulting from the research results is the need to implement standardized IT systems for transport and forwarding that will satisfy all the needs of this industry. A solution that is necessary to implement for transport is the possibility of an easy control and settlement of drivers’ working time, real-time monitoring of the route and rationalization of the documentation flow. In addition, the proposed solutions should be directed to all enterprises, not only those operating in the transport industry, because other companies also use the transport fleet and face the same problems. The introduction of unified systems for transport management will be a step towards the future of introducing autonomous fleet. However, before it happens, not only vehicles must be changed but also systems used to manage their operations.

The development of transport is undoubtedly the direction of the future. New IT solutions and automation of logistics processes will also have a huge impact on transport. What is necessary today is the implementation and unification of transport management systems and the implementation of one that will have the usefulness of all available on the market. Another direction of research is the development of information technologies that will meet future needs and will be the answer to the management of an autonomous fleet. In this regard, research should be carried out on what systems and what is the scope of fleet control in the case of autonomous cars, measuring their effectiveness and safety.