Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Thursday, Nov 30, 2006
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Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Thursday, Nov 30, 2006 ePaper |
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Logistics
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Roadways Industry & Economy - Petroleum Government - Security
Amit Mitra
BPCL has been working on variants to suit different industries, starting with coal mining.
Mumbai , Nov. 29 A long convoy of army trucks trundle up a remote mountain somewhere close to the Indian border, when one of them splutters and its engine goes silent. It could be a mechanical problem, or it could have even simply run out of fuel. One can imagine the sheer logistics involved in pulling out the truck from the rest of the convoy and hauling it miles down to the nearest fuelling station or garage. Soon, the Army will have an easier option. All the truck has to do is to get off the road and wait for a BPCL-operated multi-utility, six-point mobile dispensing tanker to come to its aid, if a proposal made by the oil company fructifies. In a novel marketing scheme, the state-owned BPCL has proposed to develop a unique mobile tanker that will have a six-nozzle diesel dispensing unit, vehicle repair facility, first-aid centre and vehicle tracking system, tailored to the needs of the Indian Army and the Border Security Force. BPCL, which already has the design in place, is in talks with the Indian Army for development of three to six mobile tankers on an experimental basis, each costing about Rs 70 lakh. In fact, BPCL, which has taken the lead in bringing out mobile dispensing units to expand its market presence, has been working on variants to suit different industries, starting with coal mining.
Beneficial to mining
Recently, it sold the idea to the mining industry, which resulted in Bharat Coking Coal Ltd, part of Coal India Ltd, buying the first mobile dispensing unit for its Dhanbad mining operations about six months ago. Earlier, the company had been losing significant amounts of money and time in hauling its heavy mining equipment to the nearest consumer point for fuel or repair. "Today, the mobile unit of BPCL pays scheduled visits to the mine sites and takes care of the fuel and repair needs of the various heavy-duty mining machinery, saving idle time, effort and extra costs," an industry source said. BPCL's mobile unit for the Dhanbad mines has a carrying capacity of 8,000 litres, apart from lubricants and repair facilities. Having got significant returns after the unit was deployed, BCCL is planning to introduce a few more such mobile tankers in its fleet, the sources said. Taking the concept one step further, BPCL's in-house engineering division, has designed a bigger mobile dispensing unit, with multi-utility facilities, to suit the Indian Army and the BSF. As the Army deploys thousands of trucks along the border areas, the mobile unit has been proposed to be equipped with six-nozzles (six vehicles can be filled up at a time). The mobile dispensing unit will have a wide range of other facilities such as first-aid, repair, mobile tracking through GPS-GSM and electronic gauging, aimed at preventing misuse of fuel and monitoring fuel consumption of each truck deployed by the Army. Sources said the Indian Army responded favourably to the proposal and talks are on to fund the project and the number of units that could be built. BPCL also plans to send the proposal to BSF and other agencies.
More Stories on : Roadways | Petroleum | Security | Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd
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