As With Trucking, Fuel Card Firms Experience Waves of Consolidation and Diversification

Comdata Corp., the dominant player with an estimated 1 million cardholders and annual revenue of more than $300 million, has solidified its position in the over-the-road trucking market by absorbing NTS Inc. of Fort Worth, Texas, and striking deals with Texaco, Pacific Pride and other fuel marketers to provide behind-the-scenes transaction processing services.

NTS, formerly National Truckers Service, and Comdata were both early innovators in the fuel-card industry. NTS organized the first funds transfer network for truck stops in the early 1960s and was Comdata’s biggest competitor when it was sold by New Jersey-based First Data Corp. in January 1998.

Comdata introduced the Comchek card — the first true fuel purchasing card — in 1971. The card quickly became an industry standard and the name is so familiar to truck drivers now that Comchek is often used as a generic term for a fuel card.