online and by phone and then lift as and when required ; but if a customer changes their mind and wants a different load size we ’ re flexible . With the industry having an historic connection to face to face communication , a lot of our customers still like to speak to a person .”
L-r : Jane Hughes , Margaret Major , ( who recently joined Fuel Oil News as sales manager ), Kevin Gullen , Gareth Howells , Rob Brailsford and Sean Dixon with the terminal ’ s 5 loading racks in the background
The right culture There are 8 permanent staff working at this top tier COMAH terminal which runs 7 days a week 24 hours a day .
“ Valero is a firm believer in employing its own staff in the terminals ,” said Kevin .
“ It ’ s fantastic that the team stepped up to the mark and kept this terminal open throughout most of the upgrade , there ’ s a real sense of pride in this terminal ,” said Sean .
“ Not having a high turnover of staff here , we ’ re fortunate that most people working in operations have an awful lot of years and experience between them ; Valero is a good company to work for ,” added Rob .
“ We work with customers on a daily / weekly basis making sure that we then forecast what the customer wants ,” Kevin explained . “ It is a complicated process that we take very seriously and we pride ourselves on continuity of supply .
“ Customers place orders in advance both
Now part of Ford Fuel Oils , this Hobbs Bros tanker takes advantage of the terminal ’ s faster loading
A successful venture Product is brought into Avonmouth from Valero ’ s Pembroke refinery – an 8-hour sea journey with one tanker presently arriving in the Oil Basin at Avonmouth Dock every week . Being in control of supply means the shipment can always be altered to meet the changing needs of customers .
“ With product coming straight from our refinery and into our terminal – we can manage our own destiny ,” said Kevin .
Like the Pembroke refinery , which contributes almost £ 76m to the local economy every year , the Avonmouth terminal expects to continue to contribute to its local community particularly now that having more grades available has made its position more viable for the longer term .
“ This upgrade has been a huge success ,” said Sean .
“ From day one when the first trucks started loading at 06.05 it has been exactly what we wanted it to be . There was a slight issue with the software for loading kero on that first morning but it was quickly resolved . Now vehicles loading 36,000 litres plus of kero and / or gas oil can be in and out within 40 minutes with the average loading time being 23 minutes .
With around 100 tankers a day coming into the terminal , quite a few new customer inductions have already been conducted .
Having a large geographical area to tap in to , the Avonmouth team have gained many new customers as a result of the upgrade , particularly customers from former markets that go back to the Texaco days of the 80s and 90s when this terminal was known as BOSL ( Bristol Oil Storage ) and Avonmouth was home to several terminals .
“ Nowadays not many oil companies are investing as much as Valero whose long term strategy is to service all our customers ,” said Sean ,
“ This upgrade admirably demonstrates Valero ’ s commitment to providing security of supply for our customers .”
In addition to those mentioned above , Fuel Oil News would also like to thank terminal operator Gareth Howells for the informative tour of the site .
Fuel Oil News | April 2017 21