Gareth Wax talks to Neil Betteridge - everything you wanted to know about fuel storage systems
Join Gareth Wax from Boost Biz Podcast as he talks to OTS’ Neil Betteridge in a frank and amusing conversation about fuel storage, tanks, HVO and more!
One of the most talked about topics right now is how do we start the process towards carbon net zero, how will it affect the trucking and truckstop industries and should we all throw our hands in the air and panic! Of course there is a solution and a process that will mean that we can gracefully move from diesel through biofuels and beyond.
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This transcript has been edited for clarity.
Welcome to another Boost Biz podcast featuring Gareth Wax. And me Jenny Thornton. Actually, we are the gruesome twosome. Our entire focus is going to be trying to lift the lid on what really makes businesses tick. It's an opportunity for a business to tell its story. So let's get into it.
[Gareth Wax] Welcome to another Boost Biz. And today I'm joined by Neil Betteridge, who is the Project Director at OTS Group Limited. Welcome, Neil. It's interesting because what you're all about, which is perhaps one of the topics of the moment, is the movement of fuel and and it's containment. Am I right? And it's the hot topic or it has been for a while.
[Neil Betteridge] Yes, it has been at the forefront of people's minds that absolutely, yeah,
[GW] Possibly not, not something they're particularly happy about. And that's possibly because they don't understand some of the black art of making this thing happen. So my first question is: How the hell did you get here?
[NB] Now there's a story. I'm actually an electrician by trade. So I used to have my own school business going back 10 years or so. And then I started working for OTS as a subcontractor. I decided to wind my business up. I was going back to what I was doing before with someone else, but the guys here offered me more of a managerial role, which is what the whole point of having my own business was supposed to do: get me off the tools, and getting into the management side of things. So I was offered a project management roles back in 2012. And I've not looked back since.
[GW] So 2012. Let's get a good timeline on that. So in 2012 you really moved away from being at the coalface to do much more pulling the strings. Is that fair?
[NB] Yeah, absolutely. That's absolutely right. So I still like to keep my hand on the on the practical side of things. I still got a boot full of tools, and I'm going to meeting and there's a job on the way all the way, I'll jump in and do it.
[GW] I've met people like you, you can tell when someone's come from a technical background because they lift up their boot, there's always a tool in there!
Even though you're in a management role, you've got your finger on the pulse, you least know where things are going. Has OTS always been involved in the current type of fuel containment?
[NB] Our very base thing is to build and manufacture fuel storage tanks. That's the most basic form. Through Steve Gain, we have developed what we do to be more technical. We have our flagship product, which is called the MultiServ™.
[GW] Oh, right. Would you tell me a little bit about the MultiServ™?
[NB] It's a multi fuel tank so it has can have diesel, gasoil, AdBlue which is not a fuel in itself.
[GW] I am a diesel car owner and we're all too painfully aware of AdBlue!
[NB] So lorries have to consume it even more so they need to fill up on regular basis with that. So, we install pumps into the tanks themselves that pumps fluid out to dispensers which are mounted on the flanks of the tank, so each tank pack which is consists of two halves will have four dispensers dispensing three products. So we do all the electrical management, we do design and build control panels...
[GW] I'm getting a clear image that you guys effectively stage manage putting these things in place, so these truckstop owners, rather than being tied down to one single fuel can really provide a multiplicity hence the word MultiServ™.
[NB] Absolutely. It is literally retail for commercial sites. So the only thing we don't deal with at the moment is petrol. So if it's a commercial vehicle or your diesel vehicle, you can turn up to one of these sites and fill it with what you need. From a fuel perspective.
[GW] Am I right in thinking that the reason you don't add petrol into the mix is because it is far more flammable and much harder to contain.
[NB] Correct. Exactly that. It's it's a different set of regs to look after it it's a much more volatile fuel. And also in the commercial area or a sphere where we operate, you don't use don't use it.
[GW] There's no benefit.
[NB] These guys that we're building tanks for, they're filling up lorries with 200L, 300L, 400L, 500L, 600L transactions at a time. So that's what we're out there to supply.
[GW] So what’s shaking it right at the moment in this world? What is getting people's attention? Talk to me about that.
[NB] At the moment I think there's two big things going on. To my mind is HVO, which is hydrogenated vegetable oil, which is hydrocarbon, but it's a substitute for diesel.
[GW] It's not people sitting out the back of chip shops and nicking their oil?
[NB] It has been! But this is a little bit more refined these days! It's an absolute drop in for diesel replacement. You can actually mix diesel with this as well. In fact I filled my car up this morning with HVO from our tank in the yard. But I've put two tanks of diesel in it recently because I've been out on the road...
[GW] But you don't you don't smell like a burger shop?
[NB] No I don't smell like a chip shop. I don't get out of the car feeling starving!
[GW] I just wanted to check 'cause you know what's going to happen... You'll just get a flock of seagulls floating past you every time! I've got a clearer idea. So what was the other thing you said?
[NB] So the other thing at the moment will be coming down the line in April is the removal of rebated of fuels. So rebated if you're the mayor of gasoil or red diesel. Red diesel can no longer be used by commercial outfits.
[GW] So you see tractors and farm vehicles alone pretty much now.
[NB] Yeah, give or take absolutely. NHS can still use it. Nonprofit organisations can use it national schools and state schools. And that type thing...
[GW] And I'm guessing they're going to wind that down entirely at some point?
[NB] I would assume so, but I guess it's another revenue generator. The nature of the beast is I'm afraid at the moment not to get particularly political but the pandemic who just been through someone's got to pay for it. Somewhere and we are going to have to recoup that somehow.
[GW] We knew we were gonna have to pay the price when everybody tools down. Someone is going to pay.
[NB] So that's happening. So that's going to be changing things for construction companies where they would be running their machines JCB diggers, and bigger on gasoil, they're now going to have to go to diesel.
[GW] But diesel with AdBlue?
[NB] Yes, they'll need the AdBlue. Diesel and gasoil in the way that they all work in a vehicle, they're exactly the same. The dye's just in there to say that you haven't paid as much VAT or you haven't paid as much duty on the product as you have of white road diesel. So that side of it doesn't change.
What will change is that fuel tanks will be even more of a target for thieves because they'll know that tanks will be full of white, road diesel, and not red diesel which they can put straight in their vehicles, and no one will know the difference.
[GW] So I'm assuming that you're coming up with methods of defeating that?
[NB] There are already methods to defeat in that, but people that had gasoil tanks wouldn't necessarily be investing in that sort of equipment. And it's also theft from the nozzle as well. With gasoil, you just turn up it and use it because no one's going to be putting in the road cards and road vehicles in their right mind. But now obviously, if you if you've got 1000 workers out there, and they all start helping themselves to a couple liters a day to put in their road vehicles, you've got a big problem. So fuel management, I think now will become more of a required thing.
[GW] So this is going to be the next hot topic that's coming down the pipes really isn't it?
[NB] It's exactly. I think not everybody knows about it. So I think from April, people are gonna start panicking there's going to be so much demand for everything. It's hard getting hold of components now. So when everyone wants everything at the similar variety at the same time, I think is is going to get mad.
[GW] So you're saying watch out!
[NB] Yes! We're already talking to some of our key suppliers and we think we're going to need a lot of these devices and equipment and trying to establish decent chains of supply at the moment.
[GW] I think this will be a really good topic for a LinkedIn live down the line! If we could talk about people that'd be very perfect.
All right in your time, because you've seen a lot of stuff coming up as you have done. You've, you've done your penance. You've done nine years of it. So now you're seeing looking from the top down, you must have had some interesting experiences, wondering if you've got any kind of amusing anecdotes you can throw our way or do you ever get to ever get a tanker filling 10,000 liters of the wrong fuel?
[NB] Yeah, I can assure you that on the site side of it they do get very frustrated with that because again, you've you've just put potentially half price fuel and in a tank you can no longer use! They don't see the funny side of it sometimes!
[GW] Probably afterwards, like six months later! "Do you remember that time...?"
You've given us some great insight and perhaps a dire warning. But if right now owners of these stations who are thinking well, should I invest in something can multi serve or is that not the way to go? What piece of advice could you give them? What takeaway could you give them right now?
[NB] A good takeaway at the moment, I think is just being prepared for what is coming down the line. There's going to be a lot of change. I think everyone's fully aware of it, but I don't know that people are actually gearing up to it for alternative fuels. I think that is going to be key.
[GW] Read up on gearing up for alternative fuels is what you're saying?
[NB] I think so, yeah. Certainly in the short term. And when I say short term, I mean, sort of 0-10 years, right? Because infrastructure, electrical infrastructure isn't there yet, I don't believe. I don't believe electric is the full answer to everything, so we are going to have to find something that starts reducing our emissions, but uses the existing equipment and infrastructure we've got, as I said, HVO is I think the prime example of that.
[GW] How low carbon is that?
[NB] In co2 emissions, is supposed to do between 90 and 92% reduction.
[GW] That's pretty damn good. Would the green lobby agree that's good enough?
[NB] I don't know good enough, but I think it's a damn good start, and as I say, I think there's gonna be lots of stepping stones down this road. And I think that that has the potential. The only downside of it is going to be that is made from foodstock, so there's going to be some sort of some compromise on how it's grown and where it's grown and how we go about that. I absolutely agree with that.
[GW] So this is how it's done rather than what is done. We can we kind of agree what, we just don't know quite know how at the moment.
Neil, it's been it's been an absolute education, and quite amusing, actually, I didn't think I was gonna be laughing so much at tanks! And thank you very much for spending some time with me. I hope you found it useful. I found it most enjoyable.
[NB] No problem nice to meet you too Gareth. Thank you.
