It seems that the throne of internal combustion engine vehicles will be shaken by electric vehicles in near future. But we will keep seeing ICE vehicles on the roads for longer than we think. In this case, fuel oil will continue to maintain its place on the agenda as one of the most important energy resources. Even though the oil price decreased with the effect of Covid-19 pandemic, it is currently increasing drastically due to unexpected political developments in the world.
Fuel Security
Being the biggest budget item in logistics, fuel is day by day becoming more vulnerable to fuel thefts. Fuel theft is one of the most frustrating problems for both logistics companies and vehicle owners who are dealing with transportation business. Fuel theft can be conceptually examined under two main titles:
1. Fuel Theft by Internal Environment
These type of thefts are mostly linked with employees. Some drivers are reported to steal fuel from the vehicle which is under their own responsibility in various ways. Such as transferring a small portion of fuel every day which makes it very difficult to detect. Consider a truck with 30 l/100 km fuel consumption and 500 km daily mileage, 5-10 liter fuel stolen from the tank daily will only increase the average fuel consumption by 1-2 liter. This is the most insidious and dangerous type of theft for a company because it is creating a huge loss in the long term and it is really hard to detect.
On the other hand, some drivers focus on using the truck as efficiently as possible and consume less fuel than agreed with the company. Afterwards, they claim right on the amount of fuel saved, they sell it and they may not consider this as “theft”. Although some logistics companies don’t care what happens to fuel as long as their drivers didn’t exceed the agreed consumption level, we should say that is not a healthy business.
2. Fuel Theft by External Environment
Both private truck owners and logistics companies can be exposed to this type of fuel theft. High fuel prices and heavy commercial vehicles with big tank capacities varying between 400-1100 l whet the appetite of thieves. Thieves can quickly remove the tank cap with some special tools, empty the fuel in the tank within minutes with the help of a pump.
There is a saying, the lock does not withstand the thief. However, we think that fuel theft can no longer be a problem, especially with smart and high technology solutions. On the other hand, fleet managers should make use of smart systems such as our Trak Smart Fuel Cap in terms of monitoring their vehicles’ fuel security. For example, commercial vehicle camera surveillance companies can integrate Smart Fuel Cap into their systems and activate camera recording when there is an unauthorized access to the cap. GPS tracking companies can offer Smart Fuel Cap as a value-added security solution to their customers.
Increasing the penalties against fuel theft by legal arrangements and providing deterrence by applying serious penalties to businesses or people who trade in stolen fuel are also factors that will provide important benefits against fuel theft.
What should you do to improve your vehicle's fuel security?
The level of precautions in terms of fuel security can also be improved by integrating some sort of fuel consumption assessment, by considering the factors mentioned throughout this article. Also, you can consider investing in our fuel security solution Trak Smart Fuel Cap to be one step ahead in terms of your vehicle’s fuel security.