According to DNB, Dutch cardholders paid at filling stations in Belgium and Germany more than 25 million times in the first half of 2026 (+20%), for around €1.5 billion (+32%). For buyers this is not consumer news: it confirms a structural pump-price gap that feeds into fuel policies, fuel card coverage and hauliers' fuel surcharges. Key action: this month, have your fuel card provider and hauliers show where refuelling actually happens and on which price basis you are charged.
What is actually happening
On 28 September 2026 DNB published, for the first time, card payment data by spending category (Merchant Category Code) and country. The number of card transactions at filling stations in Belgium and Germany rose by 20% in H1 2026 to more than 25 million; the amount paid rose by 32% to approximately €1.5 billion. Belgium grew fastest: +33% to 11.3 million transactions (€593.6 million). Germany: +11% to 14.2 million (€872.4 million). In the Netherlands, the number of filling-station transactions fell by 3% to 187 million.
Two scope caveats. The figures also include other filling-station spending, such as refreshments and electric charging. And they measure debit and credit cards issued by Dutch payment service providers; DNB does not state whether business fuel cards are included. DNB does not identify a cause, but notes that petrol and diesel prices in the Netherlands were on average sometimes tens of cents higher this year than in neighbouring countries. NOS links the higher pump prices to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz following the attacks on Iran at the end of February.
Who is directly affected
First order: organisations with a fuel-driven fleet — service vans, sales lease cars, construction and installation sites, and road hauliers — especially with trips in border regions or on corridors towards Belgium and Germany. Probably not or barely affected: fully electric fleets charging on their own sites, and Randstad fleets without cross-border trips, where detours wipe out the price advantage. That changes when trip profiles shift (new customers or sites across the border) or when a fuel card contract is renewed with a narrower foreign acceptance network.
The second-order effect
Orbecta analysis (level C). The price gap turns refuelling location into a cost variable. For shippers, the risk sits in the fuel surcharge: hauliers on international lanes can refuel more cheaply in Belgium or Germany, while a surcharge formula linked to a Dutch diesel price passes on the higher Dutch price. This scenario becomes plausible when (1) the Dutch price gap persists, (2) the surcharge index tracks a Dutch pump price and (3) the haulier demonstrably refuels outside the Netherlands. Conversely, any excise change in The Hague could narrow or widen the gap; this has not been established.
Procurement indicator: the gap between the index in your surcharge clause and the average refuelling price in the transaction data of your haulier or fuel card provider.
Dutch procurement impact
- Direct: fuel budgets for your own fleet and fuel card contracts (acceptance and discount network in Belgium and Germany).
- Indirect: fuel surcharges in transport contracts on the Rotterdam–Antwerp corridor and towards the Ruhr area.
- Possible: operational lease contracts with fuel included, if the lessor calculates the fuel budget on Dutch prices.
A second point of attention is foreign VAT on fuel purchased for business use; it cannot automatically be reclaimed through the Dutch VAT return. Have your tax adviser confirm the treatment. Company exposure: not yet calculated — link spend and fuel card data.
What is certain and what remains uncertain
What is certain: +20% transactions and +32% amount at Belgian and German filling stations in H1 2026; −3% transactions in the Netherlands; source DNB.
What remains uncertain: the business share (fuel cards possibly outside the data); the cause (DNB does not identify one); the excise course; whether H2 continues the pattern (Q3 is usually higher due to the summer holidays).
What to watch: diesel price gap per litre NL–BE/DE, share of foreign transactions in your fuel card export, and the index basis on surcharge invoices.
What you can do now
- Fleet manager: within two weeks, request from your fuel card provider an H1 2026 transaction export by country and station, plus the acceptance and discount network in Belgium and Germany; then decide whether the fuel policy allows cross-border refuelling on trips already taking place in the border region, without detours.
- Logistics buyer: this month, ask your hauliers in writing which index their fuel surcharge tracks and in which countries their trucks refuel on your lanes; decide before the Q4 tender whether to propose a different index basis or a periodic recalibration of the surcharge formula.
- Finance/tax: within 30 days, ask your fuel card provider whether they facilitate foreign VAT refunds and have your tax adviser review the process; decide whether that service is included in the contract.
- Lease contract manager: before the next renewal, ask your leasing company how the fuel budget in full operational lease is calculated and whether foreign refuelling is permitted; then decide on reconciliation or budget arrangements.
How Orbecta supports
With Contract Intelligence you review fuel surcharge and index clauses in transport and lease contracts; Warroom Prep helps renegotiate the surcharge formula in your Q4 tender.
Sources
Primary source: De Nederlandsche Bank — Dutch motorists refuelled across the border more often in the first half of this year (Dutch-language original) — 28 September 2026 Independent main source: NOS — With high pump prices, Dutch motorists refuel more often in Belgium and Germany (Dutch-language original) — 28 September 2026 Additional context: Transport Online — DNB sees 20 percent more refuelling across the border (Dutch-language original) — 28 September 2026
Orbecta analysis based on the sources above.