Alexander Group, leading dangerous goods logistics and transport specialist, has been awarded the contract to provide nationwide Bulk LPG distribution for Rockgas.
Rockgas is part of Firstgas Group and provides LPG safely and reliably to over 125,000 customers across New Zealand. It is also investigating low carbon gas alternatives including bio-LPG, to help New Zealand become zero carbon by 2050.
To strengthen their bid, Alexander Group has an alliance with Taranaki-based transport company, Symons Group to service the Taranaki region.
Hayley Alexander, CEO, Alexander Group, says she is absolutely delighted about the contract, and believes there were a few factors that helped to seal the deal, not least the company’s long track record in developing innovative transport and logistics solutions for its customers especially in the dangerous goods sector.
“As one of the largest transport operators servicing the gas industry, with an unrivalled safety record and a national infrastructure, we have developed an ability to look around corners and to think differently about how we positively impact our customers’ business outcomes. We’ve successfully been doing this for 50 years.
“I have no doubt that our ‘fresh eyes’ approach to Rockgas’ unique needs, including reducing on road exposure and kilometres driven without compromising quality and safety was key to them awarding us the contract.
“The Rockgas win also validates our growth strategy and focus over the last two years,” adds Alexander.
She says Symons Group is well-respected in the Taranaki region for its work in the energy sector as well as other key bulk liquid customers such as Fonterra and Beach Energy.
“Symons Group have a similar history to ours and operate with very similar values. The fact that Symons have specialised in the energy sector brings an additional layer of expertise and high-performance resource that we can flexibly add to the mix, which is of great benefit to Rockgas.”
Dean Eggers, General Manager, Symons Group says its alliance with Alexander Group on the Rockgas business will be a key part of their year-round delivery service which will have a positive knock-on for their other VIP clients.
“We’re very happy to be part of this alliance. Winning this opportunity with Alexander Group allows us to work alongside a company that equally commits to and delivers high-performance service to its clients.”
“Our success has been built through a combination of our people and commitment to the highest levels of health and safety, so the alliance with Alexander Group to fulfil this contract is an excellent fit,” adds Eggers.
Jo Crawford, Rockgas General Manager said, “We are looking forward to working with Alexander Group and Symons Group to safely and reliably deliver LPG to our Rockgas customers”.
Perhaps one of the surprising outcomes of the new contract is that the network hub will be based in the Waikato rather than Taranaki, the more established heart for the energy sector.
“Integral to our approach was to get Rockgas’ tanker fleet closer to their end user customers so they could be more responsive to their needs. Anchoring our solution at a Waikato-based hub is a game changer – we can maximise vehicle and driver utilisation, more efficiently access our network and improve Rockgas’ responsiveness to meeting changing customer needs,” says Alexander.
The contract will see the development of Alexander Group’s hub in the Waikato, including a fleet of new trucks to maximise delivery capacity. Around thirty staff will be based at the hub.
“While some of our existing staff as well as some of the Symons crew will be joining the Rockgas delivery team, we will need new skills. This is an exciting time for us and a great boost to the local Waikato economy.”
“We’ll be recruiting hard in the next three months to get the right people in place, with drivers going through our extensive training programme before heading out on the road.” says Alexander.
Services under the new nationwide distribution contract will commence following an appropriate transition period with the incumbent operator.