Savings in the pipeline
Page 32
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• The Federation of Petroleum Supplier's annual conference, held last month at Blackpool, revealed an alternative view to BLVR (Bottom Loading/Vapour Recovery) vehicles for authorised distributors.
Maidment Tankers' Eric Gillespie suggested to the conference that the Institute of Petroleum might extend the dimensional limitations of a tanker's valve coupling area.
This would allow cheaper manual Y-leg API valves to be used in place of the current pneumatic manifold valves. On a rigid 8x4 tanker this would save up to £3,000 and nearly 20kg — or 100 litres of fuel.
On the expense of rigid tankers, Gillespie believes the cheaper option which can be used in BLVR or manual load/discharge operations can still be effective without compromising health, safety or environmental requirements. He called on authorised distributors to press for the change.
Redditch-based Lakeland Tankers, formerly Rylands Tankers, made its formal debut at the exhibition. And Clayton Commercials, better known for its wide range of tanker trailers, underlined its intention to boost its AD market attack, It displayed a Foden 6x4mounted 30,000-litre unit with provision for BLVR, George Meller's new BulkFlow 1000 fuel metering package and Alcoa aluminium wheels. Tare weight is just 9,500kg. Drum Engineering showed its AD2000 range of computercontrolled delivery systems on a Leyland Daf 8x4 for Phoenix Petroleum.
The system's point of sale and combined radio link package gives a comprehensive information and communication facility which Drum is hoping to extend to other road transport sectors, such as drinks and temperature-controlled.