What can South African businesses do to stay afloat with regards to diesel skimming?
Staying afloat: diesel skimming
During the current economic challenges, South African businesses face immense pressure to survive while keeping expenses as low as possible. Fleet managers, in particular, must be pedantic in ensuring no money is wasted: regular maintenance, tracking drivers and measures to ensure economical driving all form part of this. Diesel skimming is also a growing problem for many businesses and requires serious attention.
The managing director of Legratron Electronics, Itumeleng Matshego, says monitoring fuel usage is essential because, unless you do, there is no real way to know how much diesel is potentially being stolen from your company.
“For unscrupulous truck drivers, diesel skimming is a very lucrative business and easy if there are no measures in place to prevent it. Drivers can make a quick stop along their route to siphon out fuel to sell to syndicates operating alongside the road. Often, the diesel is sold for half the amount paid at a fuel station."
“The consequences for your business can be far-reaching. Your cost of transportation increases dramatically which is then reflected in the cost of products or a reduction in budget for other necessities. It can result in the loss of customers who can no longer afford your products, a decrease in the number of people you can employ and many other roll-on effects that theft has in a business.”
When faced with such a dilemma what are your options?
“As diesel skimming is not a new practice, various ways to attempt to prevent it already exist. These include limits on daily diesel usage, closely monitoring fleet vehicles to identify suspicious behaviour such as unplanned stops or you can install locks or mechanisms that make it difficult to access the tank.
"While all of these methods are important and effective to some extent, the sophistication of diesel skimming has risen considerably. Consequently, the most effective way of prevention is to use tracking and fuel monitoring systems.”
With fuel monitoring systems in combination with tracking technology, you can quickly identify problems.
“By tracking the geolocation of vehicles, you will immediately be aware of unusual activity such as stopping alongside the road. Fuel monitoring systems track fuel consumption and compare it against other parameters to identify discrepancies. You will also be notified of any route deviations.
You can keep track of the time spent in certain locations whether enroute or while loading or off-loading to identify if there's potentially a problem.
"Legratron Electronics ensures their fuel monitoring systems are beneficial to customers in many ways. For example, the system is more affordable than what is being lost in diesel skimming. It is also easy to install and maintain. Additionally, their fuel monitoring system is compatible with many telematics systems and you are not limited to one system forever. It’s use of the latest technology ensures battery life lasts for several years."
While it may be impossible to get an exact idea of how much diesel skimming is costing your company, you would likely be shocked to know the truth.
“This is why it is essential to make sure you have a fuel monitoring system that provides both real-time and analytical data on which to base your decisions. With the economic demands on companies growing each day, you cannot afford to not take diesel skimming seriously,”
says Matshego.
