End-to-End Fuel Monitoring for POL Transportation: 17% Cost Reduction and 7-Month ROI

Issues

The transportation of petroleum products demands stringent safety measures; drivers’ actions, as well as those of other personnel involved, must be closely monitored. Negligence, lack of electronic document management, fuel theft during transportation, fuel under-refillings, and fuel drains are common occurrences. Even small-scale thefts eventually result in significant losses and damage the supplier’s reputation. The lack of control allows for systematic theft, which leaves the supplier virtually “held hostage” by the thieves.

What’s worse is that such thefts often involve breaches of safety regulations, leading to an increased risk of accidents, for which the supplier may be held accountable.

Sensors with high sensitivity and high accuracy are needed to solve theft problems. Given that the customer’s fuel trucks frequently operate in areas with poor mobile network coverage, a tracker capable of functioning not only via GSM but also through direct satellite communication, such as the USRW, was required.

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The primary challenges the clients encountered:

Lack of electronic document management, relying solely on paper statements, which introduces inefficiencies and errors

High influence of the human factor, leading to inaccuracies in fuel tracking and management

Multiple, incompatible software systems being used to collect fuel data, making it difficult to get a clear, holistic view

Fuel drains during transfer and storage, which often go unnoticed due to the lack of real-time monitoring
Lack of control over fuel infrastructure, such as pumps, storage tanks, and vehicles

Preparation

Before implementing an advanced seamless monitoring system in the customer’s company, the system integrator needed to conduct preliminary work with each department and top management to gain their support and convince them of the system’s necessity.

First, the integrator studied the customer’s internal business processes. Then, it was essential to establish the current financial indicators so that they could be compared and analysed over time, once the equipment was installed and data began to accumulate.

The challenge was to meet not only the client’s expectations but also the strict requirements of the state and international standards – such as those from the UN regarding the transport of dangerous goods by land. Which are ATEX-certified equipment, a ban on video recording on the territory of strategic facilities, the ability to transmit data via satellite communications instead of GSM.

The customer was offered a sophisticated system solution for end-to-end fuel monitoring. The list of equipment turned out to be extensive, due to retrospective analysis after the first stage of equipment installation. The analysis showed the need to integrate a more complex monitoring system. Which is why the system was introduced and implemented gradually over 12 months for 150 vehicles.

Solution

To successfully implement the project, it was essential to use high-quality equipment that met all necessary certifications for operation in hazardous environments. Additionally, the equipment needed to be integrated with each other and with software to ensure smooth data collection and aggregation from all peripheral devices.

As a result, the integrator took great care in selecting manufacturers, ensuring that they met all the requirements of both the customer and local regulatory authorities.

For thorough fuel consumption monitoring the solution selected was sensors from Escort Monitoring Systems: TD-BLE wireless fuel level sensors, which have 99% accuracy and are ATEX certified, and DU-BLE tilt angle sensors.

TD-BLE allows remote monitoring of fuel in tanks and in fuel trucks during the transportation of petroleum products (POL). Another important factor was the need for continuous data transmission and storage, even in emergency situations, which is handled by the black box built into the TD-BLE.

Meanwhile, DU-BLE is used to prevent unauthorised opening of tank hatches and technical compartments in fuel trucks. Additionally, a digital I-5 display with data visualisation was installed in the driver’s cabin to comply with safety regulations.

Monitoring outside GSM network coverage was ensured by Galileosky 10 Hub and Base Block Iridium. The integrator chose Galileosky because it integrates with a wide range of software (in this case, Wialon), has an easy-to-use configurator, provides prompt technical support, built for extreme conditions, and offers unique features for this application.

After that, the integrator analysed the first results and identified the need to add new links in the chain to monitor the entire process. For the next stage of end-to-end fuel monitoring, it was necessary to organise non-operational fuel release, automatic generation of fuel movement logs, online fuel release management, setting limits on the amount of fuel dispensed, and remote equipment setup. Automation of intradepartmental gas stations and tankers was established using the “Kvota-3” controller, which measures accepted and dispensed fuel at intradepartmental gas stations. Also, the Fuel Tanker Dispenser from Garvex, integrated with TD BLE, allowed for:

Primary fuel acceptance and data transmission on the amount of fuel accepted to the software.
Unmanned fuel dispensing.
Automatic electronic log keeping of refuelling transactions.
Data transfer to Wialon and the customer’s ERP system.

Since no large company can function properly without video monitoring, Howen’s Dashcams were further enhanced to reduce the influence of the human element on operations. This improvement helped prevent accidents caused by reckless driving or fatigue, reduced insurance expenses, improved driver attendance tracking, and more. Since fuel trucks often enter strategic facilities, a system was implemented to automatically turn off video recording when they arrive at such locations.

To recall, one of the client’s biggest challenges was the lack of a unified platform to collect and analyze data. The absence of electronic document management also caused accounting errors, making it difficult to allocate financial resources effectively.

The integrator addressed these issues by implementing Wialon. Wialon’s advanced platform brought everything together, offering powerful features like comprehensive and customizable reports. These tools enabled analysts and the finance team to track key financial metrics more effectively, streamline processes, and improve overall accuracy.

Results

After the implementation of end-to-end analytics, the fleet management system as a whole was transformed, and decision-making became based on data rather than intuition.

Thanks to the installed equipment and connected software, the client now has full visibility into fuel movement and usage analytics.
Electronic document management for fuel-related operations was successfully implemented (with automatic uploading into the ERP system). As a result, the workload for POL accounting decreased by 55-65%, and the efficiency of obtaining and processing data increased by 70-75% due to the optimisation of document flow.
The response time to equipment malfunctions was reduced by 70%.
The implementation of end-to-end fuel accounting ensured 100% transparency of business processes related to fuel management and distribution.
The client has eliminated the problem of unauthorised fuel drains, reducing costs associated with POL by 17% of the budget. Before the implementation of the system, the annual budget for fuel (POL) was $19,893.28; the following year after the implementation, the budget was $16,424.70.

The payback period of the equipment was 7 months*

*the payback period depends on the total amount of fuel consumed, the number of vehicles, fuel trucks, gas stations, and a number of other factors.

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Products used

Escort TD-BLE

Wireless Fuel Level Sensor