This fireside chat recap is from Thursday, the third day of FreightWaves’ Global Supply Chain Week.
FIRESIDE CHAT TOPIC: How supply chain issues impact fuel supply and price.
DETAILS: Dolores Santos, a fuel industry expert with more than 40 years of experience selling to fleets, talks with Scott Berhang, director of the FreightWaves Academy, about how supply chain issues can impact fuel supply, and fuel price, and how buyers can protect themselves.
KEY QUOTES FROM SANTOS:
On the U.S. facing a limited fuel supply and an ensuing tight distillate market: “The DOE stats are pretty staggering. We were up last week 3 million barrels, but honestly, we are at 120 million barrels of distillate in the United States, and that’s down 38%. It’s the lowest it’s been in a long time.”
On measures that fuel buyers should consider to help lower prices for customers: “I always try to hedge fuel so that I could have locked-in costs [and] so I could help my customers whenever I could. … It’s so critical to hedge if you’re buying a lot of fuel.”
“Having a third-party price is critical. You want to be able to tie your price back to a verified price.”
On what makes a successful fuel buyer: “I learned as a supplier, in order for me to be successful, my customer has to be successful. So, it’s in my best interest to take care of them and do the best I can. You want a supplier that really takes your best interests at heart.”