Texaco picks Wincanton
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• Texaco is dropping Tankfreight as its UK transport contractor at the end of October and switching to Wincanton Distribution Services with a five-year contract which is worth more than £75m.
The move will cost 250 driving jobs at NFC subsidiary Tankfreight. Wincanton will dedicate 160 tankers and 250 drivers to the Texaco contract, using more vehicles than in most petrol fleets, says Alastair Elder, managing director of Wincanton's transport division.
Texaco has 1,350 service stations in the UK and aims to be "the most admired oil company". Wincanton's quality of service, including driver attitudes, will be part of that effort.
Elder says that management from the two companies will set new standards of partnership in physical distribution: "You won't see the join," he predicts.
It is claimed that service levels will be managed and monitored more closely than anywhere else in the oil industry, and will include data from onboard vehicle computers.
The system is similar to that developed by Winunton's retail and chilled distribution operations for companies such as Marks & Spencer.
Drivers will be involved in areas such as the design of a uniform, which is due to be discussed at a meeting this week. The contract is based on openbook accounting — the contractor will disclose all elements of costs.
Texaco is believed to be providing part of the capital investment required for the contract. Early this year it started moving to 38-tonners with the acquisition of 60 new trailers.
Wincanton beat off bids from all the leading tanker companies, including Linkman, P&O Tankers and United Transport Tankers. The decision is a blow to Tankfreight, which secured the flagship nationwide contract when Texaco first went out to tender six years ago.
Texaco says only that it has had good service from Tankfreight and expects good service from Wincanton.
Wincanton parent Unigate said recently that it was selling its car contract hire operations and in future would concentrate on "food and related distribution" (CM 13-19 June).
The Texaco deal, and a national press advert for a new business development manager for Wincanton Vehicle Management, suggests that quite distant cousins to the food business are included in its plans.
O NFC company BRS has persuaded glass processor Plyglass to choose it as its sole distributor, pushing up the value of its contract from £500,000 to £750,000 a year.