First Data Corp. has completed the merger of its transportation payment services with Transportation Clearing House LLC, creating a joint venture the companies hope will become a leading card provider in the transportation industry, the card processor announced Nov. 17.
Atlanta-based First Data had announced Oct. 4 an intention to merge its EFS Transportation Services business with Transportation Clearing House to establish the new venture, according to a First Data press release.
Neither company disclosed financial details of the merger or whether the joint venture would operate under a new name.
Transportation Clearing House offers payment card products and transaction processing to the transportation and financial industries. More than 10,000 locations in the U.S. and Canada accept the Ogden, Utah-based company’s private-label fuel cards, Fleet MasterCards or automated clearinghouse transactions, the press release stated.
As competitors, EFS Transportation Services and Transportation Clearing House provided many of the same services to the transportation industry, Ted Jones, Transportation Clearing House chief operating officer, tells PaymentsSource.
“This is an opportunity for us to take the best of what each company was offering and merge them together to make them even stronger,” Jones says.
Z-Con, a new fuel-payment initiative Transportation Clearing House planned to launch in the first quarter of 2012, remains in the joint venture’s plans, he says.
The cardless program would enable trucks equipped with transponders to fuel at participating truck stops that install sensors in canopies above the fuel pumps to identify registered vehicle identification numbers of the trucks and automatically turn on the fuel pump, according to the Transportation Clearing House website.
The light-emitting transponder on the truck dashboard turns from an orange to a flashing green light when the truck’s fuel cap is in direct alignment with the fuel pump. When the driver leaves the canopied fuel pump area, the fuel pump turns off, the website explains.
The Z-Con fuel-payment method, in which the fuel charges are reported back to the registered carrier for payment, will help reduce diesel fuel theft at the pump, ensure accurate reporting back to the carrier, and speed up the fueling process for the drivers, Jones says.
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