A single live record of your yard, and the tools that act on it
YardHelm keeps one up-to-the-second record of everything moving through your operation, and gives every team tools that work from it. This page covers what the system is, what it does, and what you'd need to run it. The short answer to that last one: a web browser.
One system, delivered from the cloud
YardHelm is a cloud-delivered operations system for yards, docks and the fleets that serve them. Your team signs in from a browser. There's nothing to install, and new capabilities show up on their own as we release them.
Everything in the product works from one live record of the operation. When a truck arrives at the gate, the appointment is marked arrived, the yard map updates and the detention clock starts, on every screen at once and in under a second. Dispatch, the dock office and the finance team are looking at the same facts rather than three versions of them.
People reach that record in three ways. Staff use the web app from any browser. Drivers use a public page on their own phones, with nothing to download. Field crews such as spotters and gate agents carry a mobile app built for gloves and bright sunlight.
More than 30 modules, grouped around the work
The cards below are the short version. The platform page walks through each area screen by screen.
Gate check-in & cameras
Gate cameras read plates as trucks arrive and match them to bookings, so most check-ins happen without anyone touching a keyboard. Drivers without a booking scan a QR code and check themselves in from their own phone in about 40 seconds.
Gate & check-inLive yard map & move planning
A live map shows every trailer, spot and door, refreshed in under a second. YardHelm also scores possible yard moves and queues the most urgent ones, so spotters always know what to do next.
Yard operationsDock scheduling & carrier portal
Appointments live on a drag-and-drop schedule, and carriers book their own slots through a portal. Arrivals are matched to appointments automatically, so the schedule reflects what's actually happening on the ground.
Docks & schedulingDetention billing
The clock starts at the gate stamp, and billable time follows the terms you set per carrier. When a dispute comes, you have the timestamps to back the invoice.
DetentionCold-chain monitoring & control
Every refrigerated trailer is tracked against its allowed temperature range, and drift raises an alarm right away. You can send set-point and pre-cool commands from the same screen, with the response confirmed against the next readings.
Cold chainFleet analytics
Fuel purchases are checked against where each truck actually was, idle time is measured, and quarterly fuel-tax reporting comes from real miles. There's also an emissions view and an EV-readiness read on every vehicle.
Fleet analyticsSafety coaching
AI dash cams flag risky driving events and feed a coaching workflow with a score per driver. SOS alerts from wearables or phones reach managers immediately, with the person's location attached.
SafetySecurity & asset tracking
Gate watchlists, site-camera detections and Bluetooth asset tags report into one incident center. A lost pallet jack becomes a ten-second search instead of an afternoon of walking.
SecurityReports, dashboards & audit
Dashboards and exports cover the numbers each team is measured on, from door utilization to detention recovered. Every change in the system is logged, so an audit starts from evidence rather than memory.
ReportingWhere hardware fits in
Every core workflow runs in software alone. Appointments, the yard map, detention billing and driver check-in from a phone all work on day one, before a single device is on site.
Hardware makes the picture richer. YardHelm connects to 14 categories of field devices out of the box, and you can add them in any order — gate cameras this quarter, reefer controllers next season, asset tags when the budget allows. No category depends on another.
Read about integrationsA sample of the 14 supported device categories. Each one connects without custom work.
Built for the people who work outside the office
Spotters, gate agents and dock crews spend their day in the yard, not at a desk. The mobile app gives them the same live record, shaped to the job they're doing.
One app that adapts to each role
A person picks their role and the app shows only what that role needs. Managers can switch views to see the whole operation from a phone.
- Spotters see their move queue and confirm each move as it's done
- Gate agents see arrivals and can check a truck in from the lane
- Dock crews see door assignments and mark loads started and finished
- Key actions keep working without signal and sync when coverage returns
- A hold-to-send SOS button raises an alarm with the person's location
- Guided tours on every screen, so new hires learn the app on the job
Different teams, the same live record
Yard managers
Fewer radio calls and no lost trailers. The map answers the questions people used to walk the yard to ask.
Operations directors
Door utilization, dwell times and throughput across every site, from one login.
Cold-chain & QA teams
Temperature history for every load, and an alarm before an excursion becomes a claim.
Finance teams
Detention documented and billed, fuel spend verified, and tax reporting built from real miles.
The fastest way to evaluate YardHelm is to use it
The full product runs in your browser on realistic practice data, with a guided tour on every screen. There's no signup, and it takes about two minutes to get oriented.