National Tracking Centre monitors movement of trucks, shipments

As well as carry out the transport in transit between the customs ports at the State level through a central operations room through the installation of tracking devices on the registered trucks and shipments when they enter the first port of entry in the UAE and monitor their movement around the clock.

The Authority recently launched the National System for Tracking Trucks and Shipments in accordance with the Resolution of the Council of Ministers regarding the National System for Tracking Trucks and Shipments electronically within the State to pursue and track the means of transporting goods and shipments electronically at the level of the UAE by controlling its route from the first port of entry to its final destination within the State.

Ahmed Abdullah bin Lahej Al Falasi, Director-General of Customs at the Authority, said that the National Centre for Tracking Trucks and Shipments affiliated to the Authority, which supervises the enforcement of the system, is specialised in pursuing and tracking the goods and trucks from their point of departure to their final destination in an instantaneous and continuous manner around the clock and issuing the instantaneous reports about the location of the truck on the map of the State using the satellites and the communications network and measuring the time periods taken for the arrival of trucks in order to monitor them in the Customs Risk Register.

He added, "The competencies of the National Tracking Centre also include strengthening the security system through tracking the movement of dangerous, sensitive and high-risk goods and shipments, ensuring that they reach their final destination and the immediate response to emergency cases with linking them instantaneously to the concerned authorities within the State."

The Director-General of Customs said that the enforcement of the system shall be undertaken pursuant to the approved data and plan in light of the resolution to establish the system, indicating that the authority was keen to cooperate with its strategic partners from among the governmental authorities and the local customs departments concerned with enforcing the system and linking with all relevant systems to enable the National System for Tracking Trucks Shipments to become the official system for tracking the movement of means of transporting goods within the State.

Al Falasi added that the system adopts advanced technological solutions to achieve the maximum utilisation from its outputs and provide adaptability with the rest of the approved systems within the State to be linked with them and ensure the execution of tasks with high quality, and among these technological solutions are the web services, the emergency response system and the artificial intelligence in analysing data, information and issuing the forecasts.

He indicated that there is a database in the system that contributes to strengthening the security and customs system and supporting the decision-making process, through a set of important outputs that contribute to activating the process of monitoring and tracking the shipments, the truck tracking solutions, the driver and truck identification, date of shipment, goods, journey, and mobility, in addition to creating the integrated technological solutions.

The system’s working mechanism includes a set of main steps, the most prominent of which is registering in the system, installing the tracking apparatus on the trucks and shipments, monitoring the route of the trucks registered via the tracking system until reaching the exit center and sending an alarm to the operations room and concerned units when the trucks change their route or destroy/remove the tracking device, closing the tracking record, restoring the tracking device and sending the statistics on the violating trucks entering and leaving the concerned departments, with a view to place them within the Customs Risk Engine.