What Is a Tank Wagon and DTW Pricing?
A tank wagon is a bulk fuel delivery truck smaller than a transport, the tractor-trailer that hauls full loads from the terminal. The word also names a way of pricing: in trade usage, a dealer tank wagon (DTW) price is a wholesale price for fuel delivered to the buyer, rather than picked up at the terminal’s loading rack.
Both meanings share one idea: the fuel arrives at the buyer’s tank, and the price covers getting it there.
The truck
In the trade, a tank wagon is a straight truck with the tank mounted on its own chassis, rather than a trailer pulled by a tractor. It suits deliveries too small to fill a transport, and sites a tractor-trailer cannot reach easily, such as farms, construction sites, fleet yards and heating-oil customers. A tank wagon can be compartmented, so one truck can carry more than one product on a route.
DTW pricing
EIA defines dealer tank wagon sales as “Wholesale sales of gasoline priced on a delivered basis to a retail outlet,” and it published refiner gasoline prices for DTW sales through 2021.
EIA’s definition covers gasoline sold to a retail outlet. In everyday trade usage the term is wider: suppliers and buyers also speak of a DTW price for diesel, heating oil and other products delivered to a commercial or farm customer’s tank.
DTW vs rack
| Rack price | DTW price | |
|---|---|---|
| Priced at | The terminal’s loading rack | The buyer’s site |
| Who arranges the haul | The buyer, or a carrier it hires | The seller |
| Freight | Paid separately | Inside the price |
A rack price is the price a supplier posts for fuel lifted at the terminal. A buyer who pays rack still has to get the fuel home, so its delivered cost is the rack price plus freight. A jobber that buys at the rack and delivers to its own customers can be the seller quoting them a DTW price.
Why a DTW price sits above rack
A DTW price includes the delivery: the truck, the driver’s time and the trip to the buyer’s tank. Those trip costs do not shrink with the gallons delivered, and a tank wagon carries fewer gallons than a transport, so each gallon carries a larger share of the trip. How far a DTW price sits above rack depends on the volume, the distance and the seller. Fuel hauling rates: per mile to per gallon shows how a trip cost turns into cents per gallon, and How to buy bulk fuel: comparing quotes covers comparing a delivered quote with a rack-based one.
Sources
- EIA glossary: Dealer tank wagon (DTW) sales: the definition quoted above
- EIA: U.S. refiner gasoline prices, DTW sales: EIA's refiner gasoline price tables, which include a DTW sales type (annual data, 1994 to 2021)