eCargo has secured Sanitarium NZ as its first major non-shareholding commercial customer, notching up a "win" for e-business.

Sanitarium recently outsourced 100% of its NZ land freight operations to United Carriers Ltd, a move that would not have been possible without eCargo, says Sanitarium National Freight Manager Robin Green.

"We've been looking at communication systems like this internationally for some time. To find one developed in NZ has made a world of difference, and the Carter Holt Harvey pedigree gave it plenty of credibility.

One of the system's greatest benefits is connectivity, says Green. "With eCargo we've got both ourselves and our freight supplier connected through a normal Internet portal. Any user can see the progress of freight from every perspective and from anywhere."

eCargo has effectively changed the way Sanitarium goes about its freight business. Already Green can account for a 20% reduction in the number of vehicles required. "On the admin side, we've probably freed up least 10% more time in the day," he says.

The information that eCargo provides allows manufacturers to shine a powerful new light on the crucial "DIFOTIS" (Delivery In Full on Time In Spec) measure, recognised as the 'holy grail' of the transport industry.

Russell Little of Carter Holt Harvey's EcoPine business agrees. "This type of information is priceless. It's of huge benefit to manufacturers who historically have never truly been able to measure DIFOTIS beyond the point when the truck left the warehouse," he says.

Green is enthusiastic about the benefits the Internet has brought to his business. "eCargo is a practical step in e-business. All those traditional IT barriers are gone; it's easy to explain, easy to generate user acceptance, easy to install and upgrades are easy to download off the net."

eCargo enables freight operators like United to improve fleet utilisation, allows more effective route planning, and better utilisation of trucks. The resulting time and cost savings has effectively given freight operators more time in the day to carry out their business.