Dangerous goods logistics and transport specialist Alexander Group 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 more than 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.

Hayley Alexander, CEO, Alexander Group, said there were a few factors that helped to seal the deal, including the company’s long track record in developing innovative transport and logistics solutions for its customers.

“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,” Alexander said.

“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.

To strengthen their bid, Alexander Group has an alliance with Taranaki-based transport company, Symons Group to service the Taranaki region.

An outcome 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,” said 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.

Services under the new nationwide distribution contract will commence following an appropriate transition period with the incumbent operator.