A goods haulage company with 22 vehicles and a national and Iberian operation processed all transport documentation on paper — CMR consignment notes filled in by hand by drivers, paper service sheets, manually recorded mileage and invoicing done weeks after the service due to a lack of consolidated data. CMRs were lost, invoicing was delayed by an average of 18 days and cost control per vehicle was virtually impossible. After implementing electronic CMR, fleet telematics and automated invoicing, the invoicing turnaround fell to 24 hours, fuel costs dropped 14% and documentary disputes with clients practically disappeared.
The Scenario Before: Paper, Delays and Lack of Control
TransPorte+ (real case — data altered under NDA) is a goods haulage company headquartered in Setúbal, operating with 22 vehicles — from 3.5-tonne vans to 40-tonne articulated lorries — serving industrial, logistics and distribution clients across Portugal and Spain. With 34 employees (22 drivers, 4 administrative staff, 3 in operations and 5 in management), the company turned over €2.8 million per year.
The goods transport sector is regulated and documentation-intensive. Each transport requires a CMR consignment note (Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road), which documents the consignor, the consignee, the nature of the goods, the weight, the conditions of transport and any reservations. This document is the legal proof of the transport contract and the basis for invoicing.
At TransPorte+, the entire process was analogue:
Paper CMR. The driver received a triplicate CMR pad. They filled it in by hand at the loading point, with the information given verbally by the client's warehouse manager. The handwriting was often illegible. Data such as the exact weight, number of packages or observations about the condition of the goods were frequently omitted or incorrect.
Fleet management by intuition. There was no telematics system. Fuel consumption was calculated monthly by dividing total litres purchased by the kilometres recorded (manually) by the driver. There was no way of knowing whether a vehicle was idle, loading, in transit or running empty. Preventive maintenance was based on calendar schedules, not actual usage.
Slow and disputed invoicing. Paper CMRs arrived at the office days or weeks after the transport — some were lost permanently. The administrative clerk responsible for invoicing needed to decipher each CMR, cross-reference it with the pricing tables (which varied by client, cargo type, distance and weight), calculate the amount and issue the invoice. The average delay between performing the service and issuing the invoice was 18 days. And when the client contested a figure, the documentary evidence was a poorly written piece of paper, without photographs or digital records.
The Numbers Behind the Problem
• CMRs lost or illegible: 8% of the monthly total.
• Average time between service and invoicing: 18 days.
• Invoices contested by clients: 12% of the total.
• Weekly hours on CMR processing and invoicing: 48 hours (2 administrative staff).
• Empty running (estimate): 28% of total distance covered.
• Monthly fuel cost: €38,000.
• Emergency maintenance incidents per year: 14 (breakdowns that could have been prevented).
• Average days to payment: 62 days (late invoicing + payment terms).
The Solution: Transport Digitalisation on Three Fronts
Front 1: Electronic CMR (e-CMR)
We implemented electronic CMR via a mobile application installed on the drivers' tablets. The digital process is radically different from the analogue one:
When a new job is assigned to a driver, the transport data is pre-populated automatically: consignor, consignee, description of goods, estimated weight and special conditions. The driver arrives at the loading point, confirms or adjusts the data on the tablet, takes photographs of the goods (mandatory — the system does not proceed without at least two photographs) and collects the digital signature of the warehouse manager.
At delivery, the same process occurs: the driver records the arrival time, photographs the unloading, the consignee signs digitally and can record reservations or observations. The e-CMR is automatically emailed to the client and archived in the system.
Each e-CMR is georeferenced (with GPS coordinates of the loading and unloading locations) and has an exact time record (start and end of loading, departure, arrival, start and end of unloading). These data feed directly into the invoicing system and serve as irrefutable documentary evidence in the event of a dispute.
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View Intelligent Automation →Front 2: Telematics and Fleet Control
We installed telematics devices in all 22 vehicles. Each device collects and transmits in real time: GPS position, speed, instantaneous fuel consumption, engine RPM, engine temperature, driving hours (for tachograph regulation compliance) and vehicle status (moving, stationary with engine running, stationary with engine off).
The fleet dashboard allows the operations manager to see, at any moment, where each vehicle is, what it is doing and what its status is. New jobs can be planned based on the geographic proximity of available vehicles, reducing empty running.
The driving analysis module identifies excessive consumption patterns: harsh acceleration, heavy braking, speeding and prolonged idling. Each driver receives a weekly "driving score", with specific recommendations. Drivers with the best scores are recognised — and the data show that eco-driving reduces consumption by 10 to 18% depending on the usage profile.
Preventive maintenance shifted from fixed calendar intervals to predictive maintenance based on real data. The system monitors mileage, engine hours and wear indicators, generating automatic alerts for servicing before breakdowns occur. The maintenance calendar is integrated with operations planning to ensure the vehicle is taken out of service at the point of least impact.
Front 3: Automated Invoicing
Automated invoicing is the natural outcome of CMR digitalisation and telematics. When an e-CMR is completed (delivery confirmed by the consignee), the system automatically calculates the service value based on each client's contractual rules: price per kilometre, price per tonne, fixed price per route, surcharges for dangerous goods, urgent deliveries, loading/unloading outside business hours, etc.
The invoice is generated automatically and placed in an approval queue. The administrative clerk reviews the figures (comparing against the contractual rate card), approves with a single click and the invoice is issued and emailed to the client, with the e-CMR attached as supporting evidence. The entire process, which previously took 18 days and hours of manual work, now takes less than 24 hours and 2 minutes of approval time.
Results After 8 Months: Before vs. After
• CMRs lost or illegible: from 8% to 0% (digital by nature).
• Average time between service and invoicing: from 18 days to under 24 hours.
• Contested invoices: from 12% to 1.8% (with photographic and GPS evidence).
• Weekly hours on administrative processing: from 48 to 12.
• Empty running: from 28% to 19% (assignment optimisation by proximity).
• Monthly fuel cost: from €38,000 to €32,700 (−14%).
• Emergency maintenance incidents per year: from 14 to 3.
• Average days to payment: from 62 days to 37 days.
Financial Impact
The total investment — e-CMR app, telematics devices (22 units), automated invoicing module, driver tablets, ERP integration and training — was €44,000. The consolidated annual savings: €63,600 in fuel, €42,000 in administrative time, €28,000 in avoided maintenance, and a cash flow improvement estimated at €95,000 (from the reduction in days to payment). Payback was achieved in 4 months.
Conclusion
The goods haulage sector is one of the most resistant to digitalisation — partly because operations take place on the road, far from the office, and partly because "it has always been done this way". But the cost of paper, delays and lack of data is measurable and significant. TransPorte+ demonstrated that digitalisation does not need to be disruptive: the driver continues to do the same job, but with better tools. And the result is greater efficiency, faster invoicing, fewer disputes and lower operating costs.
If your haulage company still depends on paper CMR and does not know in real time where your vehicles are, you are operating with a competitive disadvantage that worsens by the day.
