Commercial transport is a vibrant sector in Kenya, it falls into three broad categories, we have the passengers transport, cargo transport and the school transport, each has its own unique challenges and opportunities, with the digital transformation wave sweeping across all the sectors of an economy across the world, a digital solution focusing on challenges faced by either of the above mentioned transport market segment will undoubtedly receive wide adoption.

Many GPS tracking companies in Nairobi have in the past concentrated on products that enhances safety of the fleet and crew, today the landscape has changed from this risk based approach to a new approach that emphasizes on the reduction of operational expenses. Provision of fuel monitoring system in Kenya is one emerging approach and has been touted as the single most important addition to GPS tracking and fleet management portfolio for GPS telematics service providers.

The main driver for the deployment of fuel monitoring system in Kenya is the massive siphoning of diesel fuel that happens in the country, partly to supply the black market or pure acts of theft by the transport and machine operators.  This behaviour has characterized the transport sector for decades with attention increasing only of late due to the sudden rise in global fuel prices with catastrophic consequences to the transport sector players.

In reality as one drives or takes a walk along the major highways it is normal to find commercial trucks parked along the roads and people with jerry-cans near the vehicle pretending to be fixing something either the tyres or the engine, however a keen look would eventually reveal that it is fuel theft that is happening in pretense. On the other hand it is worth noting the speed at which one can obtain diesel in jerry cans at any shopping centre or town along the major highways revealing the extent of this practice in Kenya. Infact it is common to hear of some vehicle owners who entirely rely on stolen diesel for their operation in a bid to escape the high cost of diesel sold at official fueling stations.

In this kind of business environment for the transport players, we can authoritatively say that fuel monitoring system in Kenya holds the key to survival in this sector, in real sense controlling fuel expenses has become the magic wand to profitability for the fleet owners, unlike other operational costs, fuel expenses are incurred daily thus becoming the easiest target for dishonest drivers and their assistants. Stories are told of how drivers and their assistants resign and move to the next vehicle owner after the installation of fuel monitoring system in their fleet therefore denying them the chance to make extra coin. So lucrative is this practice to the extent that drivers are able to make more money from it than even their official salary and even will boast about it.

A quick survey and learning from many years of fuel monitoring system operation and deployment in Kenya, Smart Embedded Systems understands how commercial vehicle owners loose thousands of shillings per day, it usually happens in several ways, first is at the pumping station whereby vehicle owners fall victim to improperly calibrated fuel dispensing machines or call them pumps, either by design or by lack of maintenance. By nature it is not in the fleet managers or vehicle owners mind that fuel stations can be the culprits that steal from them in a carefully executed act of pumping less fuel than paid for. Our own study as corroborated by real time logging of fuel filled in the tank has proved that there is a loss of one to tens of litres for every fill in the majority of the fueling stations. This undoubtedly translates to financial loss to the fleet owner. It is the duty of the fuel station owners to maintain and calibrate pumps to ensure accuracy, however from our experience with fuel monitoring systems in Kenya we noted that different fuel stations for the same price pump different quantity of fuel into the vehicle tank. Out of ignorance or for lack of information drivers merely take the reading shown on the pump screen and in most cases as directed by the attendant to look, it will never occur to the driver that the pump itself could be having a calibration problem. Vehicle owners who have installed Smart Embedded portfolio of fuel monitoring systems in Kenya have benefited in a great way by having the ability to pinpoint which fueling stations to avoid anytime they need to refuel their vehicles.

Secondly and still at the fueling stations the drivers collude with pump attendants to pump in less fuel than paid for by the vehicle owner and the stolen litres shared in the form of cash. In another way the driver appears for refueling with another vehicle mostly for his side hustle or a jerry can and ask for a share of the fuel paid for by the fleet owner.

All this are real cases of dishonesty that Smart Embedded Systems has encountered and seeks to eliminate completely via IoT technologies. We endeavour to install our highly sensitive sensors and provide to the vehicle owner all information related to fuel via mobile phones and computer systems. The fuel monitoring system is able to capture in real time all the fuel in litres available in the car while showing real-time GPS location of the vehicle at any given time. At the same time smart embedded fuel monitoring system is able to log in real-time events that can help the vehicle owner detect fuel theft and siphoning as it happens.

Thousands of customers have therefore put their trust in Smart Embedded Systems fuel monitoring system to keep their businesses afloat, in reciprocation we have provided quick after sales support and training to their fleet managers to be able to make maximum use of technology and eliminate manual processes especially with regard to fuel management. Through this most customers have provided us with sales referrals enabling us to be among the best and fastest growing fuel monitoring system providers in Kenya and Africa in general.