Rising diesel prices: reducing the impact on your fleet

When fuel prices rise, pressure quickly reaches the cash flow of freight transport businesses. Rather than treating rising diesel prices as an isolated issue, carriers need to look at consumption, tires, loads, routes and driving habits.

Diesel prices change over time and vary by region, state and municipality. In Brazil, ANP, the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels, maintains weekly surveys of average fuel prices, helping managers keep up with the situation without relying on rumors or an isolated impression from one station.

For transport companies and independent truck drivers, any increase matters because fuel directly affects trip costs. When price adjustments recur, margins shrink and planning needs to be reviewed more carefully.

In any case, this brings us to a constant concern in fleet management:

The importance of learning to save fuel

Carriers face quite high costs, with fuel and tires being two of the most sensitive items in the operating budget.

Although fuel price fluctuations cannot be controlled, measures can be taken within the fleet to help reduce waste and make more carefully considered purchases.

For example, tire care is a factor that directly affects this consumption. Tires in poor condition or with inadequate pressure increase rolling resistance, make the engine work harder and can worsen fuel efficiency.

Likewise, overloaded vehicles need more effort to gain speed. Excess weight reduces efficiency and turns some diesel into an expense that could be avoided through better load control.

Some ways to save fuel after diesel prices rise

Identifying drivers with higher-consumption driving profiles is a way to instruct them on good driving practices. Hard acceleration, speeding and harsh braking waste fuel; guidance on defensive, steady driving can therefore reduce consumption without depending on a change in pump prices.

Keeping track of vehicle mileage is a second way to reduce expenses. By recording routes traveled and comparing mileage, refueling and consumption, management gains a better basis for forecasting trip costs.

Then, if trips fall far outside this forecast, you can analyze and identify the reasons: a route different from the planned one, an overloaded vehicle, overdue maintenance, a tire outside the required standard or a driving habit that increases consumption.

Tire management to prevent wear and early casing losses is an essential task for fleets. Besides saving on tires themselves by extending their useful life, it will reduce fuel consumption when the fleet keeps tires under control, correctly inflated and reviewed throughout their life cycle.

Savings beyond fuel: tires are part of the equation too

In times of instability, fleets commonly focus only on each liter of diesel. But real savings also depend on supplies connected to consumption, such as tires, retreading, preventive maintenance and vehicle availability.

For carriers and fleets, tires are an area to control because they affect safety, asset useful life and fuel spending. When purchases are based solely on the lowest price, the risk is to shift costs to accelerated wear, early casing loss or more downtime.

Importing, changing suppliers or looking for cheaper alternatives may make sense in some situations, but a low price does not guarantee quality. The criterion needs to consider the application, road, load transported, retreading potential and the tire's performance history in the operation itself.

Brazilian road conditions require extra attention when selecting tires and keeping track of them. The safest decision is therefore to compare value for money, control each tire individually and keep track of wear, retreading, life cycle and cost per tire.

How all this affects carriers' planning

Besides affecting the company's overall budget, rising diesel prices put pressure on freight pricing. Since fuel is a significant operating component, keeping up with market indicators and reviewing cost forecasts prevents carriers from discovering lost margins too late.

For truck drivers and transport companies, feelings are often mixed. On one hand, adjusting freight rates may be necessary when costs rise; on the other, consumers and shippers also react to higher prices, making negotiation more difficult.

However, instead of focusing on misguided savings through solutions such as refueling at any station just for the lowest prices and buying the cheapest, lower-quality tires, seek to invest in truly effective solutions.

Finding the best value for money in products, keeping track of average prices, controlling mileage, guiding drivers and implementing fleet control and tire management measures are plausible ways to improve the current situation for freight transport companies.

Want to get ahead and avoid panic during the next rise in diesel prices? Learn more about Prolog App and how our solution can help you save (in Portuguese)!