With the explosive growth of e-commerce and the rising demand for freight delivery, transportation management has become a critical factor in the logistics industry. However, coordinating hundreds of vehicles, optimizing delivery routes, controlling fuel costs, and ensuring on-time delivery is a major challenge for many businesses.

According to the World Bank, transportation costs can account for up to 60% of total logistics expenses, significantly higher than the global average. This is why a Transportation Management System (TMS) is considered the “technology heart” of modern logistics operations—helping companies reduce costs, boost operational efficiency, and enhance customer experience.

Challenges of Traditional Transportation Management

  • Difficult route optimization: Using manual methods or spreadsheets makes transport planning inflexible, leading to empty runs and wasted fuel.

  • Lack of real-time vehicle tracking: Without a monitoring system, companies struggle to detect delays, route deviations, or delivery issues.

  • High operating costs: Fuel, vehicle maintenance, and toll fees are hard to control without detailed analytics.

  • Complex and disconnected processes: Transport data is not synchronized with Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) or Order Management Systems (OMS), causing delays and inaccuracies.

  • Lack of reporting and forecasting: Without standardized data, long-term planning and resource optimization become difficult.

To overcome these challenges, a TMS solution provides a comprehensive transportation management platform—from planning and tracking to performance analysis.

Key Benefits of a TMS

  • AI & GPS route optimization: Automatically recommends the shortest routes, reducing delivery times and saving up to 20% in fuel costs.

  • Real-time vehicle tracking: Integrated GPS allows continuous vehicle monitoring, quick detection of delays, and immediate issue resolution.

  • Automated operations: From receiving transport orders to vehicle assignment, waybill printing, and driver management—everything is digitized to minimize data entry errors.

  • Effective cost management: Provides detailed analysis of fuel, maintenance, and toll costs to support cost-saving decisions.

  • Smart data reporting and analytics: Generates reports on trip counts, delivery speed, and average costs per route to support forecasting and strategic planning.

  • Seamless integration with OMS and WMS: Synchronizes order and warehouse data for smooth, transparent logistics operations.

Essential TMS Features

  • Fleet, driver, and vehicle maintenance scheduling.

  • Integration with temperature and humidity monitoring tools (especially for cold-chain goods).

  • Automatic freight rate calculation, invoice generation, and payment management.

  • Delivery KPI analysis and driver performance tracking.

Steps for Successful TMS Implementation

  1. Assess transportation needs: Determine the number of vehicles, routes, delivery frequency, and current management bottlenecks.

  2. Select a trusted TMS provider: Choose a solution that integrates with OMS and WMS and supports customization for your business model.

  3. Pilot deployment: Start in a specific region or with a small fleet before scaling across the entire operation.

  4. Train staff and drivers: Ensure the entire team understands how to fully utilize TMS features.

  5. Monitor and optimize continuously: Use TMS reports to improve routes, cut costs, and enhance service quality.

Strategic Investment for Competitive Advantage

A modern Transportation Management System helps logistics companies reduce costs, optimize delivery routes, and improve operational efficiency, creating a long-term competitive advantage in a fast-changing market. Investing in an advanced TMS is a strategic step for Vietnamese logistics businesses to enhance management capabilities and stay ahead in the global digital transformation era.