Caltex Media Update – Diesel

31 May 2001

Caltex’s marine and emergency service customers are still its priority.

Achievements over the last 24 hours include:

- Refueling all Caltex’s emergency service customers with clean diesel, including the Coastguard, Police and port company boats in Auckland, Wellington and Lyttleton

- Setting up a completely new refueling outlet in Napier to back up Caltex’s existing boatstop and further speed up deliveries there

- Making sure the fleet at Mahia, south of Wairoa on the North Island East Coast, has clean fuel for the first day of the local cray season tomorrow

- Refueling the internationally renowned Kaikoura WhaleWatch and other commercial marine customers at Kaikoura

- Organising Bluff fleet refueling tomorrow

- Trucking diesel from Lyttelton to start refueling in the southern fishing ports

Marine/Commercial

Very good progress is being made on refueling Caltex marine customers with clean diesel with operations now completed, underway or scheduled in all commercial ports Caltex services around the country. Caltex is continuing its policy of removing old diesel from marine commercial vessels before supplying clean fuel.

Peter Hazael, Caltex Commercial Manager says that Caltex staff and contractors have been working all the hours they can safely to get commercial operators filled with clean fuel and back to sea. “In Napier, for example, the crew worked through to 4 am the first night. Now they’ve set up a completely new outlet to help meet the demand for clean fuel.”

North Auckland

Refueling at Sandspit got underway today. Leigh has been disrupted by bad weather.

Coromandel Bay of Plenty

Tauranga Caltex customers have all been refueled. Customers in Whitianga, Coromandel and Whangamata are scheduled to be completed Saturday.

Gisborne

The 28 Caltex customers at Gisborne are scheduled for completion tomorrow. The tidal surge in the port affects the debunkering and reloading operation but crews have been working as many hours as possible.

Napier

The number of boats seeking refueling grows as more boats come back into port. Yesterday’s total of around 45 has now increased to over 50. As at midday over 26 Caltex customers and some other boats had been refueled. As noted, a second boatstop has been set up on the wharf to handle larger vessels.

Four boats at Mahia will have clean fuel for the start of the local crayfishing season tomorrow.

Wellington

Caltex coastguard and commercial operators were refueled today.

Picton/Havelock

Picton-based commercial operators have been refueled. Clean fuel will be at Havelock tomorrow.

Kaikoura

A total of nine WhaleWatch and other commercial operators were refueled, with operations starting overnight.

Lyttelton

Coast guard vessels, the Sumner lifeboat and the port tug were refueled last night.

Dunedin, Bluff and Riverton

Refueling has started with diesel trucked from Lyttelton. More fresh fuel is arriving in Dunedin by coastal tanker this evening with unloading to be completed tomorrow morning.

Riveton refueling began early this morning (after de-icing the pump!) with Bluff scheduled to start tomorrow and Port Chalmers on Saturday.

Claims settlements

As at 10 am this morning, GA Robins, the oil companies’ insurance assessors, had received nearly 1900 calls. Of these 386 related to Caltex. To date 148 Caltex customers have been issued vouchers to pay for their fuel filter replacement.

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