Brazil’s Raízen gas stations to accept WEX Frete card, tapping into BRL100bn segment
Corporate payment solutions firm WEX, and Raízen, licensee of the Shell brand in Brazil, have partnered for gas stations to begin accepting the WEX Frete card as an electronic payment method for independent truckers. The agreement taps into the freight sector, which generates BRL 100 billion annual revenues in Brazil.
More than 60,000 truckers can now use their WEX Frete card at newly licensed Shell gas stations in the country, bringing in an increase in fuel sales. Independent drivers currently represent more than 50% of the volume consumed at gas stations.
"With this new product, we hope to provide greater profitability to our Shell retailers, greater control over sales and more volume. The objective is also to expedite, reduce costs and offer greater safety to truckers when refueling," said Andreas Lips, Highways and Diesel Manager at Raízen.
In addition, WEX believes it will be able to cause a reduction in direct costs for highway cargo transport throughout the country's entire logistics chain.
Migrating to electronic payments, still at a very incipient stage, has a big market potential in the country.
"Since becoming regulated, electronic freight payment has seen a very slow adoption rate, since it hadn't yet found a balance in the commercial relationship between truckers, transporters and gas stations. We believe that through this partnership, we will precisely achieve this objective," said José Roberto Kracochansky, CEO of WEX in Latin America.
