FRANCHISORS under British Petroleum (BP) have confirmed erratic supply chain bottlenecks that appear to have affected South Africa and the UK, which left them without fuel supplies of unleaded petrol and diesel for up to two months while the company prioritised its own forecourts leaving the dealers in the lurch.
Dealers said this week they hoped a meeting scheduled for tomorrow might provide them with answers to the company's selective supply decisions and the lack of clarity from BP.
This had led to franchisors with renting forecourts and properties having to rely on the limited business from quick shops. Staff had had to be put on short notice because of drastic declines in revenue streams owing to non-supply from the petroleum giant, the retailer said.
Franchisors have been reluctant to reveal their identities for fear of malalignment by the company as contractual obligations are clear that revelations to the media could result in cancellation of franchise agreements.
A franchisor said: “We are having supply issues all along the coast. BP is prioritising its own properties and filling stations.
We have had no explanations of the shortages which have lasted for longer than a month now, particularly in the month of October. BP has simply prioritised its own properties, leaving us to fend for ourselves.
“The worst is that because of contractual agreements, we can't get fuel from other suppliers. We just had to watch dissatisfied customers leave our premises, possibly not to return again,” said a franchisor.
“We are all stretched. There is nothing for it. We just have to sit and wait. My tanks are dry. I used to move about 200 000 litres a week, but now there is nothing… it is worse than the Covid-19 lockdowns.”
Dealers said it was hard to juggle the financial drought, especially for those who had to pay rent for their properties.
“Only time will tell if the customers we had to turn away will come back. There is plenty of competition. If you turn a customer away more than once, there is no telling if they will come back,” a dealer said.
In a terse statement, BP confirmed the bottlenecks, saying: “BP Southern Africa had supply challenges on gasoline/Mogas 95 in the month of October, specifically in the Western Cape and were rationing supply based on the limited stock levels. We have since received our replenishments and are now delivering to sites unconstrained.
“We continuously engage with our dealer network transparently on operational matters.”
BP franchisor's association chairperson in Gauteng, Tony Mokoka, said a meeting was scheduled for tomorrow with the petroleum company where they hoped the bottlenecks would be sorted.
“One of the regions had supply issues. We had no issues inland, but the western eastern coast areas had some intermittent supply disruptions. We will have a meeting. It is not a crisis meeting, but there are concerns from dealers as the festive season approaches and we have to have things sorted out,” Mokoka said.
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