NEWS INSIDE

Gas trucks sitting idle after leading supplier withdraws from UK market Hauliers in limbo after BOC ceases LNG supply

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Bacton Transport...........................................p4 DPD.......................................................p3, p26 DX.................................................................p8 Eddie Stobart ................................................p3 Expect Distribution.......................................p24 Jack Richards ...............................................p6 Hermes.........................................................p8 Palletline......................................................p4 PF Whitehead................................................p4 Turners.........................................................p6 UPN..............................................................p3 By Chris Tindall

Hauliers have been forced to park up their LNG-fuelled trucks after gas supplier BOC withdrew from the UK market.

Robert Gilmour, transport manager at Lanarkshire-based GBT Group, said: “BOC stopped supply about a month ago. We heard rumours they were going to stop and then they said they were pulling out of it [LNG] completely.”

The company fitted a BOC mobile refueller in 2018 for its LNG trucks and Gilmour added: “BOC are removing the tank; it’s disconnected – we’re just waiting for them to collect it.

“We have three gas trucks on the fleet, parked in the corner of the yard – they are not worth anything. We have asked LNG suppliers for a solution, but we just get fobbed off.”

Andrew Malcolm, chief executive of Malcolm Group, said it had stopped its trial of LNG trucks due to BOC’s decision: “We have had five vehicles on trial with LNG; we were going down the route to buy two ex-demonstrators from the trial, plus we have one truck ourselves.

“We have temporarily suspended the trial and we have had to park that truck against the fence. We were on the verge of starting to order a number of LNG trucks going into the last quarter of this year into next year.”

Malcolm said it would revisit the trial in six months, but added: “The problem is we have no imminent supply and there is nothing north of Boroughbridge just now, which is quite concerning when we are all trying to do our best to move forward with alternative fuels.

“We are still committed to continuing with it, but there is no point having an LNG truck if you haven’t got the supply.”

Gas supplier Gasrec told MT it was looking to work in Scotland and was in discussions with local operators, but chief commercial officer James Westcott also said: “Our focus is going to be in providing the right kind of infrastructure for the longer term. The big challenge is now not the trucks but the infrastructure.

“Small container-sized facilities are not necessarily the best solution for the medium to long term.”

BOC confirmed its withdrawal of LNG supply from the UK market but was unable to provide any further comment. ■ CNG Fuels has started building

Scotland’s first public access renewable biomethane HGV refuelling station. The site near Glasgow will refuel up to 450 trucks per day from November.

SIZE MATTERS: Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) will become the tenant of the UK’s largest-ever single occupier logistics park when construction is completed in September 2022. Contractor Winvic Construction said it had been awarded the contract to build the 2.94 million sq ft global parts centre at Mercia Park in Leicestershire, with all five industrial units leased to JLR. Two of the sheds will take up 1,000,000sq ft, with 514m x 181m x 18m steel frames, with the others measuring between 200,000sq ft and 300,000sq ft. Winvic said bulk earthworks excavations and bund creation works had been completed since construction began in February and the planting of thousands of trees and shrubs was now underway.

Unipart Logistics already has a contract to service JLR’s battery assembly centre in the West Midlands, as well as delivering parts and aftermarket support on its behalf, but it is not clear whether it will also be servicing the Mercia Park site.

Jason Jasper, UK project director for site owner IM Properties, said: “This is not only the largest single occupier deal ever to be agreed and funded, but a major planning, construction and project delivery accomplishment. We have worked hard with Winvic and our supply chain to manage the logistical challenges that come with building this volume at the same time, together with managing a phased handover of the development to JLR.”