Digital TDG solutions – why should you use them and what should you look for? - Energy News, Top Headlines, Commentaries, Features & Events

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The Transportation of Dangerous Goods (TDG) is a wide-ranging legislation that affects almost every industry in some way, but heavily impacts the operations and procedures of the chemical industry. Chemicals and chemical derivatives make up a substantial portion of the over 2,800 products listed on TDG Schedule 1, published by Transport Canada. Products like lubricants, solvents, propellants, paints, fertilizers; even some common household items like cleaning supplies or lighter fluids are regulated. PAYLOAD’s eManifest product is relevant and easily used by not only oil and gas companies but also adjacent chemical production industries such as Petrochemicals, Organic Chemicals, and Agricultural chemicals. The combined market value of just those three industries in Canada is around $20 billion, which translates to an enormous amount of chemicals being moved throughout the country every day. All that movement must be tracked according to the regulations which means every load must be properly marked, documented, and reported on. This is where PAYLOAD’s product platform comes in.

Our eManifest web app and TDG Mobile app allow the TDG process to be done completely digitally, from document creation to driver access to document distribution. By utilizing our web app to create and distribute documents and our mobile app to allow drivers to view and display documents on demand, companies can digitize their entire TDG process. PAYLOAD’s TDG solution also satisfies the requirements of the Transport Canada Paperless TDG Sandbox, meaning transporters can site us as their solution-provider when applying for their Equivalency Certificate. Don’t worry – it’s easier than you might think, we have the step-by-step instructions ready.

But if you’re going to adopt a digital TDG solution, what functionality would you like to see?

There is some standard functionality expected, like the digitization of existing regulatory documents and some admin and reporting ability. But there are other features like the ability to clone existing documents and incorporate built-in waste codes that don’t immediately come to mind. Wouldn’t it also be nice if your digital solution increased product classification accuracy (which is of utmost importance when dealing with the kind of products being transported)? Or gives you the ability to customize the system to incorporate your distinct products, locations, and transporters? Or the ability to receive delivery confirmation in real time? Or how about having all load data in one easy-to-access database with reporting at your fingertips? Or getting rid of paper documents, creating efficiencies, saving money, and storage space?

PAYLOAD’s eManifest TDG solution does all that. It allows the whole ecosystem of suppliers, blenders, transporters, and receivers to operate out of the same system so everyone can stay on top of where everything has gone and how much product was moved. A major pain point we hear from suppliers is the need to track how much volume their blenders are shipping out on their behalf; well, with PAYLOAD, that’s easy. The included reporting gives users awareness of real-time movement of products, monthly summaries of activity, variance reporting around shipped vs received amounts, and more.

A case study we conducted with the help of one of our clients (you can read the full study here) discovered that the Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) cost savings was approximately 0.75 spread across 4 people that handled the manifesting, tracking, and reporting on products. It also dramatically improved the completeness of documents, ensuring compliance, and provided a 95% decrease in time taken to receive confirmation of delivery and/or a reconciliation. Imagine the cost savings your company could see just in reduction of manual effort, not to mention the environmental and cost benefits of reduced paper use alone.

Chemicals are only part of the whole transportation of dangerous goods picture. Other major regulated products include fuel and produced oilfield fluids, both of which PAYLOAD works with on a regular basis. There is so much insight to be gained from an easy-to-implement and easy-to-use system. We invite you to read our blog post on fuel distribution to learn more.

Thanks for reading. If you wish to learn more about the PAYLOAD platform, contact us at [email protected].