Family-owned and operated since the 1960s, APCO Service Stations is a key player within its industry with a large focus on local people, great food and coffee and fuel at the right price.
With 27 stores around Australia and growing, APCO has developed a fair understanding of the importance of reliable and high-quality fuel since its inception more than six decades ago. And, to maintain its standards, the business runs a fleet of five permanent B-double tankers and a single tanker from its Geelong, Victoria, base to deliver fuel to its service station network throughout the country.
The Holmwood Highgate fleet works on a 24/7 basis, with four drivers allocated for each combination working on 12-hour rotating shifts. On average, the fleet travels approximately 30,000 kilometres throughout Victoria a week, with contractors also delivering to sites in Mildura, Victoria, and Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, which are the furthest from the company’s home base.
APCO has just deployed a new 23-metre B-double from Holmwood to bolster these operations. With high volume sales at its various sites, APCO Service Stations Logistics Manager, Scott Curtis, says the unit is key in helping the fleet deliver fuel to these locations.
“These deliveries have traditionally been sent on 19-metre or 20-metre B-doubles, but we are now able to access some of the sites with the new 23-metre one,” he says.
The new B-double tanker features a three-compartment lead trailer and a five-compartment rear trailer, with all the compartments allowing for a safe fill of 8,300 litres of fuel. Thanks to its steerable rear axles, APCO is able to carry the payload of a traditional 25-metre combination and in addition gets a “brilliant turning circle” which makes entries and exits to sites much more easier.
“We are also trialling using Hendrickson suspension and axles on this unit,” Scott says. “Along with alloy hubs and disc brakes, it has resulted in a tare weight saving of 400 kilograms.
“We had the ladder on the rear trailer mounted on the front of the barrel to get a nice, clear area for advertising as well. This provided a fantastic opportunity for our APCO Foundation to advertise and get the word out with a bold pink message across the rear of the barrel.”
APCO now standardises getting the barrels painted silver prior to the APCO stripes and signage being applied.
“We find the painted barrels do not show the dirt as much and are easier to clean,” Scott says. “We’ve found that the quality and finish of Holmwood’s tankers is excellent.”
The new tanker combination has been active for over a month now, and Scott says the drivers have been very happy with its on-road handling.
“It sits on the road nicely and is easy to operate,” he says. “It can travel up to 10,000 kilometres a week in busy times when it’s on the long-distance work. For instance, if it does two Wodonga trips out of Geelong in 24 hours, it does just over 1,500 kilometres.
“Based on these figures, we would expect the unit to travel 450,000 kilometres annually.”
Through the National Heavy Vehicle Accreditation Scheme’s (NHVAS) Mass Management accreditation, APCO is also able to operate under Higher Mass Limits (HML). The new B-double has been running at a Gross Combination Mass (GCM) of 68.5 tonnes, resulting in a payload of around 46 tonnes and a series of benefits.
“We’ve gotten the payload of a 25-metre combination on this one while still being at 23 metres,” Scott says. “Plus, with the steerable rear axles, we are able to get it into sites you wouldn’t be able to access with a standard 25-metre unit. There are no Performance-Based Standards (PBS) requirements either so it is quick and simple to get on the road.”
According to Scott, the reason APCO went with Holmwood for this unit is the same as it’s been for every purchase since the first – the outstanding quality he’s become familiar with.
“We chose Holmwood to build this B-double as the quality and finish is excellent,” he says. “I worked with Wayne Sloane on the design of the unit and he listened to our requirements and made sure everything that we wanted was included in the build.
“The quality of the Holmwood product is excellent. We have had minimal downtime with the Holmwood tankers in our fleet and we’ve found that the product holds up better. We still have a 19-metre model from 2003 still in service which is testament to that.”
Working with Wayne, Scott says, has also been a major highlight of his Holmwood purchases.
“Wayne has been great to deal with when I’ve been looking for a quote or wanted to run a concept or idea past him,” he says. “Even if we haven’t got anything on the order books, he will always call in just to see how things are going.”
In addition, Holmwood’s service department plays a pivotal role in the maintenance of APCO’s B-double tanker fleet. All of its trailers are serviced monthly and also undergo an annual major service from the trailer builder.
By collaborating with Holmwood for these processes, Scott is able to keep on top of all maintenance protocols. Just as important, he’s reminded that he truly is a valued customer.
“We prepare a 12-month plan for service in conjunction with Holmwood’s service staff so that nothing gets missed,” he says. “Due to the high utilisation of the fleet, Holmwood assists to keep it serviced and safe. They carry out all the six-month Safe Loading Pass (SLP) inspections for us and they also operate an excellent 24/7 breakdown service which is handy as our fleet works at all hours.
“We get the feeling that we are an important customer when dealing with the Holmwood team and their Operations Manager, Clayton Stephens, and that’s a great way to feel. So, we have a great relationship with Holmwood because they have always put in the extra effort for us to keep our fleet on the road. They are always incredibly busy, but nothing is ever too much trouble for them.”
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