By Sheila WILLIAMS
The state transport company, Intercity STC Coaches Limited, has received a major boost by signing a contract with one of the largest independent lubricant companies in the United Kingdom (UK), Exol Lubricants.
The UK firm will, hence, be the sole supplier of all lubricant oil for STC Coaches Limited.
This was revealed during a 3-day working visit to Ghana by Exol Lubricants senior managers. The visit aimed to evaluate the performance and give a holistic technical assessment of the lubricant oil, in the Ghanaian market during the past two months on a test bases, and to finalize the contract for the direct supply of Exol Lubricants to Intercity STC.
Speaking to the media last Thursday, when two officials of Exol and their Ghanaian partners, Sadel, paid a courtesy call on the management of STC in Accra, Mr. Paul Eastwood, Sales Director of Exol Lubricants, said the company is committed to total quality management from design to production, distribution and customer support.
The Deputy Managing Director of the Intercity STC, Mr John Awuku Dzuazah, disclosed that the company has reduced its operational costs since switching to a lubricant produced by Exol Lubricants Limited for 50 of their Scania buses.
According to Mr Dzuazah, the vehicles, which used to require a change in lubricants after 10,000 kilometres, now require an oil change after 30,000 kilometres since switching their lubricants to the LDF 3 oil.
Reducing cost of operations
Mr Dzuazah said he was unable to provide specific figures about the reduction in their cost of operations because an assessment was yet to be performed but maintained that his outfit was already reaping the benefits of using the Exol lubricants.
He said the company is interested in exploring ventures which will make it profitable.
“Recently, we introduced a new bus type into our operations called SCANIA, they are specially designed buses based on our specifications and they don’t use the normal oils but specially designed oils.
“Scania in Ghana were providing us with the oil till we got into contact with Sadel which gave us some barrels of the oil for a trial before we entered into this partnership,” he said.
Technical support
The Export Sales Manager of Exol, Paul Eastwood said he was in the country to explore ways to provide technical support to STC.
“We want to repay the trust the STC has shown the product by providing them with any technical assistance and analysis of the usage of the oil in the buses.
“Because of the number of kilometres you are able to cover using the oil before requiring a change, it can be deduced that the product is environmentally friendly,” he said.
