Fuel bills are a thorn in every haulier's side—all too
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many well established firms have closed down recently, iting the escalating cost of fuel as a major factor in their demise. But a government initiative, :oupled with advances in fuel management technology, could allow operators to make significant savings...
Last month, as part of a Lioom package of measures designed to help the haulage industry, the Department of Transport published the Fuel Management Guide which is designed to help operators cut their fuel bills. The 1" also plans to spend Li5m on training rators in fuel management techniques. uch largesse might seem a little surpris, given the government's stated policy of teasing the movement of goods by rail or —it seems that the decision to help to the d transport industry was inspired by envimental commitments and the need to uce emissions of greenhouse gases. The
• ernment claims its support package is rth some koom a year—the equivalent to 3/lit cut in the cost of fuel.
rst step
first step for hauliers involves applying a free copy of the Fuel Management Guide I the accompanying video (see contacts lel). The guide can also be downloaded rn the Web. Although the loose-leaf guide ttains nothing that a competent fleet manT shouldn't already know, it does cover fly aspects of best practice in fuel effincy, including the gathering and monitor ing of data, vehicle specification and maintenance, and driver training.
Among its recommendations is the notion of appointing a "fuel champion": someone in the company whn is responsible for reading and making sense of the wealth of management data that most companies will gather about the use of their fleets. This could be particularly true for companies using computerised fuel management systems capable of generating reports on a variety of levels.
All the major oil companies and the bunkering suppliers like PHH and CH Jones offer high-tech fuel management systems that will provide detailed reports of where and how money is being spent on fuel. Properly used, this information can certainly cut your annual fuel bill. In one recent case a major UK haulier achieved a 4% reduction on fuel consumption, equating to L400,000 a year.
ETSU, the organisation which has helped to collate the latest government initiative on fuel management, claims that savings of up to 15% are achievable, although a proportion of this will simply be due to a more disciplined approach to fuel management rather than a reliance on specialist software.
In the example quoted above, the haulage company had already invested in a proprietary fuel management system but it had failed to read the data, much less use it as the basis for management action. Following a site visit by ETSU, the haulage company appointed a senior member of staff to oversee all aspects of fuel purchase and consumption. It was at this stage that it began to identify areas for savings.
From October the second part of the DoT initiative will offer hauliers free on-site inspections. There are very few companies, large or small, that would not gain by the sort of training and advice that is expected to be on offer. There is anecdotal evidence that some of the biggest haulage operators in the UK struggle to maintain best fuel management practices at local level—and many smaller companies simply lack the resources to find the solutions.
Whole industry
However, the programme of site-specific visits is already beginning to attract criticism from sources within the project. The available funds mean that each visit will only last one day; detractors claim this is not enough time for a solution to be developed. Sources also claim that, while the project is ostensibly aimed at the whole industry, the DoT is being forced to target hire-and-reward hauliers running between one and five vehicles.
"The L15m allocated to this contract is not enough to do the job properly," says one insider. "Of the II0,000 licensed operators in England—and this scheme only applies to England—the DoT will try and target about 21,000. The message to the big boys, and that indudes anyone with more than about ro vehides, will be that this scheme is not for you."
Whatever the prospects for this scheme, casting a critical eye over your company's fuel supply arrangements is never a waste of time.
Most hauliers have already worked out that the cheapest option is to bulk-buy their own fuel supplies, with bunkering and forecourt supplies lying in second and third place. But the decisions are not always dear cut.
Changes in Health and Safety legislation coupled with the distance to the nearest bunkering site could affect a company's choice of fuel supply. There are also many who have not yet fully explored the advantages of proprietary fuel management systems and these operators will tend to further blur the distinctions between the purchasing options.
Fuel companies including Shell now have an Internet based system (Shell On-line) which allows hauliers access, via a secure web site, to the full range of management data relating to their purchase of fuel. Shell cou
ples this with its euroShell Monitor systi that uses electronic chip technology to prov information about the vehicle, its driver, ; amount of fuel drawn, the odometer readi and the time, place and date of refuelling.
Management reports
For operators with their own fuel suppli pump manufacturers like Meggitt Petrolei or MIS Fuel Monitoring provide a range 'smart' pumps which can generate imme ate management reports along similar lit to the Shell system. "We are constantly loi ing at ways to improve the product," Paul Ledbury of MIS. "At the moment, c vers have to input a certain amount of d. into the pump's computer to make it work; the future advances in radio technology v allow our pumps to `recognise' a vehicle a automatically allow access to the fuel. At t same time it will capture and download the management information that fleet rm agers may require."
Whatever the system finally settled up< nothing is likely to change for the bet without adequate supervision. Unless t information generated by the various s tems is actually read and understood, it v be impossible to achieve the savings that on offer.
• by Pah** Hoek
Contacts
• The Fuel Management Guide available from the Environment and Energy Helpline on 0800 585794 or download it from: www. energyefficiency.gov.uk/transport.
• Assistance from specialist transport consi tants, including site visits (from October) car be arranged via the Environment and Energy Helpline on 0800 505794.
• Details of fuel management systems are available from: euroShell's web site, www.euroshell.com: MIS Fuel Monitoring. 01902 810037: Meggitt Petroleum, 01254 682111.
• CM has copies of its recent Fuel Facts wallchart. produced in association with Dieseline, covering storage regulations. security and action on spillages. Send a self addressed A4 envelope, clearly marked "Fuel Facts" to CM'S address (see page 1).