THE DEFINITIVE TRUCKING SITE

September 2008

Transnational Freightlink... savings or improvement on fuel consumption is shared on a 50/50 split between the company and the drivers.     Pivot Transport... all re-fuelling is done at the depot and long distance trucks are fitted with bulk fuel tanks.

FleetWatch asked two transport operators for their views and experiences with fuel theft and what steps and procedures they had in place to prevent theft and manage their fuel consumption. Hand-on management and control is what’s helping them keep on top of the situation. 

Pivot Transport

Hands on fuel management with daily checks and driver debriefing is the only way to minimise and control fuel consumption according to Trevor Whitehorn, technical manager of Pivot Transport a wholly owned subsidiary of Unitrans. 

With 80 trucks on local deliveries and a further 17 on national routes Pivot Transport, has implemented a straight forward fuel policy to monitor and manage fuel usage. Whitehorn says fuel consumption is monitored on a day-to-day basis. 

“There is a centralised bureau at head office that handles this side of the operation,” he says. 

On-the-road refuelling has been done away with and bulk fuel tanks are fitted to the long distance vehicles. All refuelling is done at the depot. 

He says Pivot has not experienced fuel fraud or theft on a large scale at all. “I am confident that if we do have a problem, it is very small,” he observes, adding that he did notice that there was a slight improvement in fuel savings after fitting the vehicles with anti-siphoning devices. 

Whitehorn says the home based fuel depot is also carefully managed with a single senior person in charge. The bowser, which is kept under lock and key, is dipped three times a day. 

The electronic tamper-proof fuel pump is also carefully managed and drivers have to sign for every litre of fuel they receive. Further to this, a full fuel audit is conducted on a monthly basis. 

The company’s 24 long haul trucks average 16 000 to 20 000km each per month and the 50 local delivery vehicles between 2 000 and 3 000 km. The fleet consumes 220 000 litres of diesel a month. 

While fuel saving incentives have been put in place to encourage the drivers to try save fuel, Whitehorn says the only sure way to minimise fuel consumption is through strict controls and consistent monitoring. 

He says fleet managers should check for anomalies and de-brief drivers on a daily basis. “You have to set benchmarks,” he says. 

“Fuel management is not something you can do at arm’s length. You cannot wait a month to check on a vehicle’s fuel usage. That is simply far too long. Diesel is a high risk commodity and has to be managed as such. It does take time and effort but it is definitely worth it.” 

Transnational Freightlink 

Mark Roering of Transnational Freightlink tells us that the company holds it drivers accountable for fuel consumption to the extent that should a vehicle record higher than normal usage, the driver of that vehicle will face disciplinary action for negligence with emphasis on poor fuel management. This is normally when the fuel consumption target has been exceeded and appears to be abnormal. 

Roering says although this may sound harsh, fuel is a valuable commodity and has to be properly safeguarded and strictly managed. 

Freightlink does not have a formal fuel policy in place but uses the BP FuelMaster system. “We have set out the criteria for drivers and operations personnel to manage and control fuel usage and accountability,” says Roering. “Any saving or improvement on target consumption is shared on a 50% split between company and drivers.” 

He says that the company has experienced very few specific incidences of fraudulent activity involving its own drivers. 

“On two occasions vehicles that were not ours refuelled on our BP FuelMaster account in Oudtshoorn, a town our vehicles never go to. We reported these to the supplier and they passed a credit to our account. In these instances, we are confident our drivers or office staff were not involved in any way and can only assume the BP FuelMaster accounting system was breached by fraudsters.” 

He says they have also experienced isolated incidences of diesel theft from vehicle tanks at the depot, despite having anti-siphoning devices fitted to the tanks. “We suspect that diesel gets tapped off from the drain plug on the underside of the tank and we are now fitting specially designed drain plugs that require a special tool to fit and remove.” 

Freightlink has a fleet of 46 trucks, most of them are International 9800i interlinks taut liners. All the vehicles are fitted with anti-siphoning devices.