Will Wood (south/south east), Richard Griffiths (north/north west) and Martin Adam (south/south west) Over the past 9 years, MechTronic has prided itself on providing a high quality customer service.  The company now has eight regionally deployed service engineers with fully stocked vans covering the whole of the UK.

New owners TCB are looking forward to further developing the Disc-Lock business The European distributor of the Disc-Lock safety wheel nut, Disc-Lock Europe has been acquired by UK owned Tension Control Bolts. Wrexham-based Tension Control Bolts (TCB) manufactures and distributes high strength, bolted systems for applications world wide. From bridge splice plates to beam-to-column connections and stadia roof trusses to rail switches and crossings, the projects of this fast growing company have included the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, the Shard of Glass in London, Heathrow Airport – Terminal Five, the main stadia for the London 2012 Olympics and Paddington Station, London. On 1st July, TCB senior sales engineer Gary Mason assumed the day-to-day running of Disc-Lock Europe from TCB House in Wrexham. Bob Hope, chairman of Disc-Lock Europe said: “After 28 years, I’m delighted to be stepping down as chairman and handing the reins to TCB, a world leader in the field of bolted systems.  As Disc-Lock Europe will continue to operate in its own right as a company, existing customers will not encounter any disruption to the normal service.  Indeed, I will continue to be involved for the foreseeable future to ensure a smooth transfer of responsibilities.” Tim Stokes, TCB managing director added:  “We’re very pleased to have acquired Disc-Lock Europe.  Its range of Disc-Lock washers, nuts and wheel nuts provide a perfect match with our own existing product range.” www.tcbolts.com

Easy to fit and install – user friendly equipment from Emco Wheaton with Euro 6 compatibility The implications of Euro 6 regulations on the road tanker industry have presented many challenges for fleet operators. With additional space required for the Euro 6 exhaust gas system and AdBlue tanks, the implications are not just in terms of the increased vehicle/equipment costs and the impact on payload but also the increased maintenance due to emission diagnostics says Emco Wheaton. Through technological innovation, Emco Wheaton has made design improvements to tanker truck equipment that better suit the needs of vehicles with Euro 6 engines which in the long term, will have a positive impact on the bottom line.A re-engineered electronic pumping system In the re-design of a re-engineered electronic pump metering system, Emco Wheaton has not only made this equipment more user friendly but also ensured that its cabinet design consolidates a range of equipment in one lightweight, compact cabinet.  Easy to fit and install, the M535 series brings the units down in size, so it can be easily accommodated on a truck chassis where space is now a premium.Bulk fluids transportation In the bulk fluids transportation market, Emco Wheaton engineers have met the space restriction challenge brought about by Euro 6.  By streamlining and making their tank truck equipment more compact and lightweight, Emco Wheaton has ensured that payload capacity is not compromised by the addition of the emissions equipment.www.emcowheaton.com

“Kinesis perfectly complements our existing fuel card offering and adds another tool to help customers manage their fleets more effectively no matter how many vehicles they operate,” says UK Fuels chief executive, Bill Holmes Fuel card provider UK Fuels has boosted its offering to customers with the launch of Kinesis – a fully integrated telematics/fuel card management product with an ‘accessible price point’. Channelling telematics data on driver and vehicle performance alongside fuel card usage information, Kinesis will provide fleet owners and managers with some of the most accurate MPG reporting available on the market. Research conducted with over 4,500 fuel card customers found 8 in 10 (83.5%) cited cost as a major barrier to implementing telematics across their fleet. Although, over half have considered putting the technology in place to save fuel (57.64%), improve driver behaviour (66.67%) and enhance business productivity (65.97%). Further customer consultation revealed a need for an integrated telematics system at a price point accessible to SMEs and businesses operating fleets as small as two or three vehicles. UK Fuels chief executive and founder Bill Holmes commented: “Although use of telematics is becoming more and more widespread, there still seems to be a misconception that it’s only affordable for large fleets and businesses. Kinesis has been designed and developed to provide a cost-effective and streamlined system that will provide users with a host of benefits whilst saving time and reducing admin. “Telematics data will be channelled through our existing Velocity online account management system and updated alongside fuel card data in real time so customers can log in and view up to the minute fleet activity from one central platform. “Kinesis perfectly complements our existing fuel card offering and adds another tool to help customers manage their fleets more effectively no matter how many vehicles they operate.”  www.kinesisfleet.comUK Fuels is part of Radius Payment Solutions Ltd, one of Europe’s leading fuel card management companies.  Radius was established over 25 years ago and now has over 600 people located in 17 offices across Europe. Radius issues over one million cards per year and manages over 2.7 billion litres of fuel annually.

Total’s new facilities significantly add to the company’s existing capabilities for both lubricants formulation and testing Earlier this month Total Lubmarine opened new laboratory facilities near Lyon in France.  The new facilities are dedicated to the research and formulation of new marine lubricants. Equipped with state of the art equipment to support the research team’s quest to develop the next generation of lubes for the shipping sector, the move comes against a backdrop of changing ECA regulations and the development of marine engines with several operating modes, capable of burning two types of fuel. The lubes required to keep these engines running are more complex than ever before and the new facilities will enable Total Lubmarine researchers to develop a new range of lubricants suitable for the challenges of the next 10 years. “We are re-imagining the lubes of today,” said Norbert Schieren, general manager of Total Lubmarine.  “We are developing lubes suitable for the stresses and strains of the marine environment: whatever the fuel and whatever the engine. “We strongly believe that innovative, research-based chemistry is the key to creating adaptable lubricants. The next generation of lubricants must be born out of innovative chemistry if they are to be simple for operators to use and at the same time match tough and variable operating conditions.” The spacious new facilities include engine testing and tribology equipment, along with significant analytical resources. All existing test beds have been extensively re-built and modernised and meet the most stringent safety and quality regulations.www.lubmarine.com/en/products-lubmarine.html

High accuracy electronic gauging provides instant information on fuel stock levels, remaining tank capacity and ullage Cameron Forecourt has supplied a new centralised fuelling system to significantly overhaul all aspects of one client’s fuelling operations. The new system has amalgamated three separate fuelling sites, operated by waste management and recycling specialist, Chambers Waste Group where existing Optima PC units have been upgraded to the Jigsaw Eclipse fuel management system to allow complete, real time management and monitoring of fuel supplies. Three OLE tank gauge systems have also been installed. High accuracy electronic gauging provides instant information on fuel stock levels, remaining tank capacity and ullage. Fuel drawings monitored by the Eclipse system can then be reconciled against fuelling from the tanks. Chambers Waste, which operates a fleet of 55 operational vehicles, spends in excess of £1 million per annum on fuel. Cameron Forecourt sales and marketing director Martyn Gent: “We’ve implemented a system at Chambers Waste which brings together what were three separate sites. Fuelling can take place at any time of day or night. The integrated package allows the customer to keep a constant check on fuel movements, stock levels, and consumption, providing complete and accurate wetstock reconciliation around the clock.” www.cameron-forecourt.co.uk

Durapipe UK is expanding PLX, its specialist fuel conveyance pipework system, with the launch of PLX Blue, a plastic pipework system specifically designed to transport AdBlue/DEF in refuelling applications.

Specialist water separation services from Simon Storage Simon Storage has successfully provided specialist storage and water separation services at its Immingham East Terminal on behalf of Hydrodec (UK) Ltd. The contract with Hydrodec, which trades as the OSS Group in the UK, involved around 11,000 tonnes of saline water containing oil residues from shipping operations. Having already undergone an initial oil skimming process, the product was re-sampled by Simon on arrival at the terminal to ensure it satisfied the adequate specification for water separation and disposal via Simon’s on-site water treatment facilities. Received by sea into the terminal, the “ship slops” were stored in a number of specially configured tanks totalling nearly 20,000m3. After a settling period to allow for natural in-tank separation of oil and water, the water was drawn off for disposal through Simon’s water treatment facilities. Oil residues left in the tank were collected by OSS, using vacuum tankers, for recycling at its Stourport-on-Severn processing plant. Simon’s Immingham East Terminal is permitted to carry out water separation activities and recovery of separated hazardous and non-hazardous waste products from industry and commerce. Simon’s investment in its own water treatment plant at the terminal provides the capability for disposal of separated waste water derived from a wide range of permitted EWC (European Waste Catalogue) codes. In the face of finite global oil supplies, the market for collecting and recycling waste oil from sources such as the maritime and automotive industries is growing, explains Rachel Lewin, marketing executive at Simon Storage. “This rapidly developing market is increasing requirements for suitable storage, treatment and disposal in the UK and mainland Europe,” she says.www.SimonStorage.com

Filtertechnik has launched Filtasorb 2 which, says the company, can hold twice the volume of water than the previous version and three times as much as its nearest competitor. Nottingham-based Filtertechnik, specialists in filtration technology and clean-up systems for fuel, biodiesel, oil, and process fluids, claims that Filtasorb 2 gives “unrivalled performance” even at low flow rates of 200 litres per minute. The filter media has been developed by the company in the UK where it is also manufactured. “In recent trials Filtasorb 2 set a new benchmark in the removal of water through absorption,” says Filtertechnik. “It’s highly effective, even in a single pass through the media, at low and high flow rates. Using diesel at a flow rate of 150 l/min Filtasorb 2 removed 6kg of free and absorbed water per minute bringing the water content to under 100ppm in a single pass from an initial level of over 44,000ppm.” www.filtertechnik.co.uk

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