Fuel for thought

July 24, 2026

Fuel is one of the biggest strategic risks in transport. iWantFuel aims to help transport operators manage that risk. JULIA TEW spoke to Andrew Heath, founder and CEO of iWantFuel, about his company’s role in transforming the fuel procurement process during a particularly challenging time for the transport industry.

JT: South Africa is currently navigating what many are calling a perfect storm for fuel prices. Brent crude is fluctuating between $70 and $120 a barrel. This is being driven largely by ongoing tensions in the Middle East and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, compounded by the expiry of government levy relief measures and the fact that over 80% of South Africa’s goods move by road. As someone who built a platform specifically to bring intelligence and control to fuel procurement, how are you seeing this crisis play out for your clients in the transport and logistics sector?

AH: Fuel is no longer just an operational expense. It has become one of the biggest strategic risks in transport. When diesel prices climb sharply, the pressure on transporters is immediate – trucks still need to move, customers still expect deliveries and drivers still need to refuel safely and on time. But margins become thinner almost overnight, and every inefficient, uncontrolled or fraudulent litre has a much bigger impact on the business.

For many operators, the biggest challenge is not only the price of diesel itself, but also the lack of control around how fuel is bought, authorised, monitored and reconciled. In a normal market, inefficiencies are expensive; in a fuel crisis, they become dangerous.

Our clients are no longer relying on fuel cards, slips, manual approvals or after-the-fact reporting. They are using live authorisation, pre-funded control, approved site selection, AI route planning, transaction verification, fraud detection and anomaly detection to make better decisions before the fuel is dispensed. The companies that survive best will not simply be the ones who buy fuel – they will be the ones who understand, control and optimise every litre.

JT: iWantFuel describes itself not as a fuel seller but as a provider of “security of supply, safety and intelligence”. In practical terms, what does that mean for a fleet operator watching their diesel bill escalate month after month?

AH: We help answer the questions that really matter: Where should the vehicle refuel? Is the driver authorised? Is the vehicle correct? Is the site approved? Is the volume controlled? Was the transaction verified? This is real-time, not historical fact.

A traditional fuel account or card allows the transaction to happen first, and then the business tries to control the risk afterwards. We changed that model. With iWantFuel, control happens before the transaction takes place. The client places and approves the order, the funds are secured, the driver and vehicle are linked to the transaction and the refuelling site receives the approved instruction. Once the fuel is dispensed, the transaction is checked and verified before settlement takes place.

The real value is not only in the payment – it is in the intelligence around it. Our system looks at every transaction in context: the vehicle, the driver, the route, the expected fuel consumption, the site, the volume and the timing. That is where fraud prevention and anomaly detection become extremely powerful. For a transporter watching their diesel bill increase month after month, we are offering a way to take back control of one of their largest costs.

JT: Diesel is the lifeblood of the logistics industry, and massive per-litre hikes force transport companies to choose between absorbing the cost or passing it on to clients. How does the iWantFuel model help operators manage that risk?

AH: Fuel price volatility is extremely tough on transporters because diesel is directly linked to every kilometre travelled. The problem is that many operators only see the full effect once the money has already been spent – by then, it is too late to change the decision.

Andrew Heath, founder and CEO of iWantFuel, says fuel has become one of the biggest strategic risks in transport.

iWantFuel gives operators better control before the transaction happens. Through the platform, they can plan refuelling, compare approved sites, control volumes, authorise specific vehicles and drivers, and monitor transactions in real time. During periods of extreme volatility, tools like AI route planning, live pricing visibility, pre-funded wallet control, fraud detection and transaction verification all help operators make better decisions. It is not only about saving a few cents per litre. It is also about preventing waste, fraud, unnecessary detours and poor procurement decisions – because when fuel prices are high, every mistake costs more.

JT: You’ve been programming since the age of 12 and describe your life’s work as “replacing friction with flow”. Can you walk us through what the iWantFuel platform does – from the moment a driver needs fuel to the moment the transaction is settled?

AH: A typical iWantFuel transaction starts before the driver gets to the pump. The fleet operator places a fuel order linked to a specific vehicle, driver, product, volume and approved refuelling site. The system secures the funds and sends the correct instruction to all relevant parties. The driver knows where to go, the site knows what has been approved and the fleet operator can see what is happening.

Once refuelling takes place, the transaction is checked: slip, volume, vehicle, driver and site details are all verified and the system compares the transaction against expected behaviour. Does the volume make sense? Does the route make sense? Are there unusual patterns that need attention? Only once the transaction passes the required checks does settlement move forward.

A card is mainly a payment instrument. iWantFuel is a control and intelligence platform. We are not just asking whether payment can happen – we are asking whether the entire transaction makes sense.

JT: Artificial intelligence is becoming a major theme in fleet management. How is iWantFuel using AI, fraud detection and anomaly detection to help operators identify risk earlier and reduce fuel losses?

AH: Fuel transactions create a lot of valuable data. Every transaction tells a story: who fuelled, where, how much, which vehicle, what route, what the expected consumption should have been and whether it fits normal behaviour. Our AI focus is to turn that information into better decisions.

Fraud detection looks for unusual patterns: abnormal volumes, repeated transactions that do not match expected usage, suspicious site behaviour, or incorrect vehicle and driver combinations. Anomaly detection goes further, sometimes highlighting purely operational issues: a vehicle consuming more fuel than expected, a driver taking inefficient routes, or a truck refuelling too often. The power of AI is that it helps management see what they would normally miss. Instead of waiting for month-end reports, operators can identify risk much earlier – and in a high fuel-price environment, the sooner you detect a problem, the less money you lose.

JT: Refuelling decisions are often made reactively while a vehicle is already on the road. How does iWantFuel’s AI route planning change that?

AH: Traditionally, the driver needs fuel, someone authorises a stop and the business deals with the cost afterwards. That is not good enough anymore. Our AI route planning looks at the journey before the vehicle moves, considering the starting point, destination, route, vehicle type, tank capacity, expected consumption, available refuelling sites, site pricing and operational constraints. The goal is to answer a simple but powerful question: where should this vehicle refuel to complete the trip safely, efficiently and cost-effectively?

AI route planning is not only about finding the cheapest litre. It is about making the best decision for the route, the vehicle and the business. Sometimes that means price, sometimes safety, sometimes availability or timing. For operators running long-distance and cross-border routes, one poor refuelling decision can affect the entire trip.

JT: Your on-road refuelling network has grown to over 490 sites. For operators running cross-border routes, what does that network coverage look like and how does the cross-border, cross-currency capability work in practice?

AH: The network’s purpose isn’t just to have dots on a map, but to give operators usable, controlled refuelling options along real transport routes. Southern African logistics does not stop at one border – neither should fuel control.

iWantFuel supports cross-border, multi-currency and multi-country operations. A client can manage refuelling across different regions through a single centralised platform, with proper controls, site pricing, authorisation and reporting. When combined with AI route planning, the network becomes an intelligent refuelling layer, guiding operators to better decisions based on route, price, distance, safety and operational requirements. Cross-border fuel is complex. Our job is to make it simpler, safer and more visible.

JT: Fuel theft and fraud are perennial headaches for fleet managers – and the financial pain is even more acute when fuel prices are at record highs. What controls does iWantFuel build in to protect operators and how does the TankSafe partnership fit in?

AH: Fuel fraud is one of the oldest and most expensive problems in fleet management, and when prices rise, every stolen or misused litre is worth more. iWantFuel is built around the principle that prevention is better than investigation. We control the transaction before fuel is dispensed: the order is linked to the correct driver, vehicle, site, product and volume; the funds are secured; and the transaction is checked against what was actually dispensed. This creates a strong audit trail. Our fraud and anomaly detection can also identify patterns that do not make sense: unusual volumes, strange refuelling frequencies, unexpected consumption changes, route mismatches and behaviour outside the normal operating profile.

TankSafe strengthens the physical side of this. With fuel theft, one of the biggest risks is what happens after the fuel is in the tank – TankSafe helps protect it by making unauthorised access, tampering, siphoning and fuel removal far more difficult. We see fuel security as a full-chain control process: iWantFuel controls the transaction before fuel is dispensed; TankSafe protects the asset afterwards. That combination closes one of the most common gaps in fleet fuel management. Fuel security cannot depend on trust alone; trust must be supported by technology, verification and control.

JT: The current Middle East crisis is being felt as a broader fuel-led supply shock, with elevated prices feeding through transport networks and raising costs across entire supply chains. Strategically, what should transport and fleet operators be doing right now to protect their businesses?

AH: Operators need to stop treating fuel only as a monthly expense and start treating it as a strategic exposure. Fuel affects pricing, cash flow, route planning, customer contracts, profitability and operational resilience. If a business has no fuel strategy, every price increase becomes a crisis.

Strategically, operators should understand their true fuel cost per kilometre, know which vehicles, drivers and routes are performing efficiently, control where fuel is bought and who is authorised to buy it, and use technology to plan fuel before the truck is already standing at the pump. Most importantly, they should use data to detect risk early – fraud, leakage and inefficiency do not always appear as obvious theft. Sometimes they appear as slightly higher consumption, unnecessary stops or transactions nobody questions until the month-end bill arrives. Fuel volatility is not going away, and businesses that rely on old processes will continue to react late.

JT: You’ve described iWantFuel as an “API-first, AI-integrated” platform engineered to “orchestrate trust, intelligence and control across the entire fuel value chain”. Where is the platform heading in the next 12 to 24 months?

AH: The vision is much bigger than simply processing fuel transactions. Over the next 12 to 24 months, the industry can expect more automation, more intelligence and deeper integration. A major focus will be AI-driven fuel decision-making: smarter route planning, better fraud and anomaly detection, predictive reporting, consumption intelligence and automated controls that help fleet operators act before problems become expensive.

We will also continue expanding our network and cross-border capabilities, and we are building iWantComs, our own messaging platform, because operational communication is too important to depend entirely on third-party platforms. iWantComs will also become the communication backbone of iWantLoads, our upcoming platform connecting transporters and logistics clients in a more controlled, transparent and intelligent way.

iWantFuel has no registration fees and no monthly subscription fees. We only make money when fuel flows – which keeps our interests aligned with our clients and the broader transport industry. We are also proud to be an approved value-added service provider for Powerfleet – formerly MiX Telematics in the South African market – supporting our strategy of integrating fuel intelligence with fleet visibility and telematics data.

Fuel is too important to be managed blindly. Every litre has a cost, a risk and a data point attached to it. The future of fuel management will not be built on cards, slips and delayed reports – it will be built on live data, AI, controlled transactions and intelligent decision-making. That is exactly where iWantFuel is positioned.