If you think that August 27th is just another day, you’d be mistaken. It’s National Petroleum Day!! Ice cream has a national day, hot dogs, too, so why not petroleum, especially when you consider how essential petroleum is to our daily lives. Think about it.
National Petroleum Day - A Very Refined National Holiday
Tags: Fuel Management
In the transportation industry, fuel economy is often the top focus. This is especially true for trucking companies that want to minimize costs. And, with good reason. According to the American Trucking Associations (ATA), fuel is typically the second-highest cost for trucking companies, slightly behind driver pay.
With diesel prices rising and an overwhelming increase in the demand for trucking, fleets must find ways to reduce expenses in other areas besides fuel spend if they want to remain competitive. In doing so, fleets can cut costs from their operating budget and boost their bottom line.
Tags: Fuel Management
What to Consider When It's Time to Replace Your Underground Storage Tank
Just like vehicles and pieces of equipment, underground storage tanks (USTs) have a lifespan of their own and eventually need to be replaced. On average, tanks can last around 25 years. That said, if tanks are close to “retirement age” and show signs of corrosion and rust, then it’s probably time to purchase new tanks.
Tags: Fuel Management
With fuel being the largest operating expense for fleets, controlling fuel costs is a top priority for fleet managers and one that can often seem like a full-time job. Fuel price volatility and unpredictable economic environments don’t make controlling fuel costs any easier, but what can help are proven strategies that ease fuel cost management regardless of fluctuating fuel prices.
Downsizing, rightsizing, preventative maintenance, telematics, and fleet fuel cards are just a few of the various strategies that can help combat price instability and control fuel costs. While all of these can be beneficial, one thing they don’t address is the actual price of fuel. However, a fuel hedging strategy does.
So, let’s take a closer look.
Tags: Fuel Management
5 Keys to Create a Healthy Vendor Relationship
There are obvious factors that can help drive a fleet’s strong bottom line, such as controlling fuel costs, optimizing maintenance, ramping up safety initiatives, and monitoring driver behavior. Yet, there’s one factor, maybe not as obvious but equally important — if not more important — to overall success, and that’s maintaining good vendor relationships.
Tags: Fuel Management
Fleets Increasingly Relying on Biodiesel to Power Vehicles
No one can predict with 100 percent certainty whether biodiesel will completely replace diesel in the future. There are just too many political, economic, and environmental impacts, and “unknowns” that are constantly in play. That said, if you take a look at the increasing use of biodiesel by commercial vehicles, as well as the growing interest in reducing carbon and greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector, it certainly appears that biodiesel is moving full speed ahead in that direction.
Tags: Fuel Management
If you want freedom from the liability issues that can be associated with fuel storage and dispensing, your fleet vehicles and equipment fueled and ready to go at the start of the workday, and your drivers focused on their job rather than spending time fueling their vehicles at a card-lock or retail fuel station, then wet hose fueling is a method that’s definitely worth exploring.
Tags: Fuel Management
Single-Platform Solution Provides Insights for Fleet Management
Whether your fleet is just a few vehicles or a few hundred, properly managing it and staying on top of the multiple challenges, details and requirements can be an overwhelming task.
From finding cost-effective solutions that control fuel prices and cut operational expenses, to figuring out new ways to ensure driver safety while complying with government regulations, fleet management can be a complicated undertaking with lots of disconnected nuts and bolts coming at you from every direction.
However, fleet management doesn’t have to be so co
mplicated and discombobulated. Software solutions and technologies can simplify and streamline the management of your assets on a single platform that is cost-effective and comprehensive.
Five Benefits of Unattended Fuel Outlets (UFOs)
If you manage fleet vehicles for your organization, you’re well-versed on all the ins and outs of the most common methods for obtaining fuel — bulk deliveries to fuel tanks, mobile fueling and purchasing at retail locations with fuel cards. However, there’s another fuel delivery method that you may not be quite as knowledgeable about. And, that’s unattended fuel outlets or UFOs.
Unattended fuel outlets are exactly what the name implies — unmanned fuel stations. They are also known for being reliable, computerized, fully-automated and a fast and convenient way for drivers to fill up vehicles and get back on the road without the time-consuming hassle of convenience store lines and the safety hazards associated with crowded lots.
Tags: Fleet Management, Fuel Management
Determining how your drivers pay for fuel at the pump can mean the difference between saving money and improving efficiencies or spending large chunks of your day tracking driver expenses manually.
And, who has time for that?
Making better use of your time and money by identifying solutions that reduce expenses, streamline operations, maximize workforce productivity and keep troubles at bay is essential to operational success. That’s where fleet fuel cards come into play, eliminating cash and conventional credit cards for driver purchases, and replacing them with a trackable, more efficient option.
Tags: Fuel Card, Fuel Management