SUCKLING TRANSPORT
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After a brief spell away, Dan Bauckham returned to Greys-based Suckling Transport three years ago. As fleet engineer, his responsibility is for compliance and cost. The fleet’s 61 tractors and 72 tank trailers take petrol and diesel from 11 depots across the UK for customers including Shell, ConocoPhillips, Scottish Fuels and Petrolplus. In 2009 Suckling Transport struck a deal for 20 MAN TGS 6x2 petreg tractors for its south-west operation. Using HazMAN’s repair and maintenance Bauckham is able to keep a tighter reign on costs as monthly service bills are fixed.
“The key is to carry as much fuel as it is legal and safe to. Kerbweight is as low as we can get it. A MAN TGS 440 6x2 tractor is 7,421kg with a 5-tonne axle and full tanks. Including a driver, the lightest we operate is 44 tonnes,” he says. “The trailer’s target weight is 6 tonnes. The Lakeland Tankers-built trailer comes in at 5,910kg, which is a 13.4-tonne combination.” Bauckham has also carried out a lot of innovation work with Lakeland for Suckling’s trailers, such as putting legal plates in the right positions so the driver doesn’t have to wander around the trailer. Some of these have been adopted by the manufacturer as standard for its trailers.