When terrorists hit New York and Washington, D.C., on September 11, 2001, Jevic Transportation Inc. of Delanco, N.J. was already equipped with sophisticated security technology. Like many U.S. motor carriers, Jevic had long deployed such technology to ward off thefts and improve efficiency. In the post-9/11 world, though, that technology now doubles as protection against potential terrorist attacks.

"Beginning in 1994, we had 100 percent of our fleet on GPS (global positioning system) tracking systems," says Jevic CEO Paul Karvois. "From pickup to delivery, we knew exactly where everything was." Jevic also provided "panic buttons" for drivers to use in the event of an accident or illness. "After 9/11, we trained our drivers to use [the panic buttons] in the unlikely event of terrorism," he says.

Jevic and many other transportation companies are willingly responding to the federal government's call to prevent terrorists from using the nation's transportation system to mount another attack. But these carriers aren't rushing to implement brand-new security technologies at any price. Like Jevic, they are finding that the technologies they have had in place for years to reduce theft and boost efficiency in their operations also are helping to promote national security. In addition, say some industry analysts and security technology vendors, carriers' level of interest in security systems depends on how much of a payback they can get on their investments.

Through a series of laws and regulations, the federal government is mandating that carriers implement security technologies and procedures. But some analysts are skeptical that the government can manage transportation security well. "The way our government works is that ideas fester for awhile, then people go off and do things," says Roger Kallock, director at Chagrin Consulting Associates in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and a former deputy undersecretary of defense. "We tend to do things in individual instances, then try to pull them all together."

Rather than try to create something entirely new, say industry observers, the federal government can instead help protect America's ports, rails and highways by taking advantage of existing technologies that were developed to improve supply chain efficiencies and prevent theft and accidents. According to some technology vendors, private industry seems to be well ahead of the curve. "The government will require procedures, and they've been very aggressive, but at the end of the day, they're still behind where industry is," says Stephen Lambright, vice president of strategy for Savi Technology Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif.

According to Lambright, private industry is pushing full speed ahead with security-enhancing technologies not because the government says it should, but because vendors see an opportunity to give their customers a measurable return on their investments. "Companies are looking for a strategic advantage," he says. Those that invest in security technology want to improve asset utilization and drive costs down while creating new services for customers, he believes.

Nevertheless, says Lambright, the federal government needs to play a role in devising a comprehensive approach to transportation security. The best route may be through a public-private partnership that can create a global infrastructure to gather data to pinpoint and correct possible security breaches. To build this data infrastructure, Savi Technology has partnered with other technology companies such as Manugistics and Sun Microsystems as well as federal agencies to create the "Smart and Secure Tradelanes (SST)" program. SST will take existing commercial technology and modify it in accordance with lessons learned from the deployment of the U.S. Department of Defense's Total Asset Visibility network, an RFID tracking system for sea containers.

Satellite tracking is one example of a technology that carriers have been using for years to improve efficiency but is now in the spotlight for its potential to improve security. These asset-tracking systems send status messages to both the motor carrier's dispatcher and to the technology provider's central monitoring center whenever a commercial carrier picks up and drops off a load or performs other activities while en route.

Although asset-tracking technologies were in wide use before last year, the terrorist attacks on America have heightened interest in such tools. "You didn't see much asset tagging before 9/11," says Gerald McNerney, senior research analyst, supply chain strategies, at Boston's AMR Research.

"Definitely the events of 9/11 are influencing the products," says Marc Sands, vice president and division counsel for Qualcomm Wireless Business Solutions, a San Diego-based provider of satellite tracking for trucks. But Sands believes that asset-tracking products' other benefits are equally—if not more—important to shippers. That's because many of the features that improve security also improve supply chain visibility, he says.

McNerney agrees that the ability of asset tracking products to improve supply chain efficiency and reduce operating costs are behind carriers' implementation of that technology. "You buy it for one reason, but you get value for a completely different reason," he says.

Hazardous materials transportation is another area where carriers and their customers are realizing multiple benefits from security-enhancing technology, says Tom Moses, president of Spill Center Inc., a Hudson, Mass., company that helps carriers respond to chemical spills. Although transportation mishaps posed dangers to the public long before concerns arose over terrorist attacks, any effort to secure the nation's transportation system is bound to improve overall public safety. Tracking and visibility software, moreover, help shippers and carriers respond more effectively to any hazmat event, he says. "There is no difference between a rail car that goes off track because of an accident and one that goes off track because of terrorism."

With concerns lingering about another possible terrorist attack, carriers are under pressure to use technology to safeguard shipments. Kallock, for one, harbors doubts about the overall effectiveness of security technology. "Folks like Savi Technology and other organizations are concerned about cargo security, but I have some real questions about whether the improvements from this technology are focused in a way that produces results," he says.

That's a legitimate concern for carriers. Public duties notwithstanding, carriers also are businesses that won't invest in any technology, security or otherwise, unless it can provide some benefit for themselves and for their customers.

In short, the bottom line for carriers in all modes is what dictates their spending on security technology. "The honest truth is that while a lot of people like to talk about security, if it doesn't come for free with productivity enhancers, people aren't interested," says Dan Doles, president and CEO of WhereNet Corp., a Santa Clara, Calif.-based company specializing in radio-frequency tags. "There has been a lot of talk about security for marine or rail companies, but companies are not investing a lot of money just for security unless there is an operations payback."