Basic Fuel Savings 101

There’s a direct tie between high fuel prices and bankruptcies in the trucking industry.

An American Trucking Associations study estimates that in the United States about 1,000 carriers with five or more trucks go under with every 10-cent rise in the national average retail price of diesel. You know what? Maybe that’s not such a bad thing. Let economic Darwinism run its course. The weak, the vulnerable, the underperforming — weed’em out. Let those with the fortitude to carry on enjoy the benefits of less capacity.

Unless, of course, it’s you who’s running on fumes. You’re not alone, of course, and not just because of record-high diesel prices. The current generation of heavy-duty engines consumes more fossil fuel — two to five percent by most estimates — than in years past. There’s little optimism that the next round of engines, made to comply with tougher emissions standards in 2007, will halt and reverse the trend.

The fuel expense at a large truck fleet is roughly 10 percent of revenues (for an owner-operator, the figure is closer to 20 percent). That’s during a 50-cents-a-litre year. Nowadays, bookkeepers have to stretch the “fuel” column on their spreadsheets every few weeks to accommodate extra digits. There are better ways to manage the problem.

Articles with tips, hints, and common sense about saving fuel will top you up with platitudes like “slow down” and “reduce your idle time.” It’s a little like reading that you should eat right and exercise.

If there’s one thing you can do to help you focus on a strategy to ride out the times, no matter what kind of trucks you operate, how many you have, or how old they are, it’s this: Appoint a fuel czar.

If you have supervisors for your drivers, operations staff, salespeople, finances, shop, what have you, it makes sense to have one person responsible for fuel.

That’s what Bison Transport did. Five years ago, the Winnipeg-based truckload carrier was buying more than 40 million litres of fuel a year. The finance guys looked after purchasing it, the maintenance managers spec’d the trucks that burned it, and trainers tried to press the conservation message among rank-and-file drivers.

“We had managers for almost every facet of the company, but not one single person devoted to fuel, this huge cost,” says Jon Sigurdson, who was appointed full-time fuel manager in 2001. “Our executive group recognized the potential. On purchases, if we could save 1 cent a litre a year, that’s $400,000 a year. If we could improve our fuel mileage through specification or driving technique, that savings, too, would fall to the bottom line.”

His responsibilities: Streamline fuel purchasing, monitor fuel economy, and develop programs that promote how and why to use fuel wisely.

Sigurdson had been with Bison for five years when he was named fuel manager, so he came to the job with a deep understanding of how the company works.

“The most important part of the job is communication,” Sigurdson says. “It’s gathering up information and putting it into context for people. Look around at all the people at a trucking company who make decisions that affect the way it uses fuel. You have drivers, trainers, dispatchers, people negotiating fuel contracts, maintenance people — someone needs to help them understand how to do their part.”

For example, your maintenance manager can tap into fuel economy figures generated by the electronic engine controls. Sigurdson created monthly summaries of fuel use by each vehicle, including fuel economy, total fuel consumed, fuel consumed while idling, cost of fuel consumed while idling, and average vehicle speed — standard stuff for most big fleets.

But he interpreted the information for Bison’s driver-development group so they could tailor their training efforts to resolve problem areas. He worked with maintenance managers to identify the most fuel-efficient truck and powertrain combinations and guide future purchases. He used detailed engine information to get data needed to build for training programs and driver bonuses.

Sigurdson’s first priority was to set up a fuelling network in the United States and Canada. A card-lock program would help direct drivers to more strategic fuelling locations and make expenses easier to track. Perhaps more importantly, consolidated purchasing means more clout when negotiating prices.

The bigger challenge continues to be marketing the programs he develops, especially among drivers.

“We talk to our drivers about fuel efficiency on a regular basis,” Sigurdson says. “We have reward programs, contests for idle reduction, posters — we’re pretty relentless.” Drivers would tune out were it not for a driver-development team stocked with experienced, creative professionals, he says.

“They’re behind the fuel-economy message all the way,” Sigurdson explains. They focus on the basics: Shift progressively, start and stop slowly, don’t idle unnecessarily, reduce your warm-up time and cool-down time, and don’t speed. The company specs its tractors with in-dash fuel economy readouts.

“They design training programs that reinforce the goals we set. We reinvested some of our fuel savings in full-motion simulators to help drivers work on fuel-efficient driving techniques. We’re taking steps to reduce our idle time. It’s a constant effort. But if the drivers see that management is making that effort — that we’re working hard and coming up with new ideas — they respond in kind.”