The truck stop and depot, really big business

Their rigs – huge, two-trailer road trains and B-doubles – are parked outside.

While they're eating, a blond-haired man ambles up to the table. "G'day fellas," says Bow Andersen, who manages the 40,000 square metre venue with his wife Helen. "Did you enjoy your meal?"

Yes, they say, and as soon as they've had their dinner and a shower, they'll turn in. Bow chats for a while before moving back to the shop section of the 726-square-metre retail precinct.

This Caltex truck stop in "Gundy", as it's affectionately known by locals, is leased by Caltex equity reseller Petro Fuel and Lubricants. It serves as a home away from home for the east-coast trucking community.

On any week day, up to 70 vehicles and their drivers will spend the night here, parked in an area the size of three football fields. The men will sleep in their cabs after having eaten, showered in the facilities laid on for them and watched TV in the recreation room. When it's very hot, it's not uncommon to find truckies asleep on the lounges, enjoying the airconditioning, says Helen.

It's not just the smiles of Bow and Helen and their 35 staff that are big. Everything here is significant. With 12 high-flow pump stations, the truck stop side of the business shifts 2.7 million litres of fuel products a month – 2.5 million of diesel – and serves an average of 300 trucks a day. Many of the truckies who work for interstate transport operators move grain or cotton to Victoria and the southern states. Another forecourt serves fuel and convenience store goods to the tourist, local and bus trade.

Home away from home

The amount of fuel dispensed is of a size to match the venue. During good local harvests of grain and cotton the Goondiwindi site will sell up to 200,000 litres of diesel a day – well over double the average rate – from the truck stop alone. The site then virtually becomes a home for long-distance drivers. "Each season we look forward to the familiar faces returning," says Helen.

It also serves as a regional focus for the Petro business, where local customers collect their lubes, top up cars with petrol using the Reseller StarCard and in some cases pay their bills. Goondiwindi is one of many sites in the Petro network that allows customers to buy fuel and oil, either bulk or through the bowser, on one account.

Depot serves a vast area

In good times the depot side of the business, which Bow also manages, can sell even more fuel – up to 500,000 litres a day of diesel and thousands of litres of lubes like Delo – to satisfy the needs of farmers, some of whom operate in the remotest parts of western Queensland.

The distances involved are enormous. Petro, headquartered at Toowoomba 160 kilometres west of Brisbane, covers close to a million square kilometres of Queensland. Its trucks travel 110,000 kilometres a month, often over unsealed roads, according to Peter Harris, General Manager of Petro.

In addition to selling fuel and lubes for customers on site, the Goondiwindi facility, like all Caltex depots, manages deliveries for farmers and industrial customers. It also delivers to remote retail sites. The depot employs three drivers who work six days a week 12 hours per day delivering fuel and oils to rural properties.

The existence of such oases has much to do with the size of Australia and the fact that terminals are on the coast. Many of Caltex's 88 depots serve as repositories of fuel and lubes in areas where service stations are far apart or inaccessible.

But as in all Caltex businesses, it's the relationships and human company that are the most important ingredient. Bow and Helen know most of the truckies who stop at Goondiwindi. One of their commonest questions is, "Where are you off to today mate?"

For them it's no hardship. They've been in business together for 28 years, running shearing contracts until the big downturn in the wool market seven years ago. That was followed by a stint in the motel business where Petro "found" them a couple of years ago at their Goondiwindi hostelry, the Ascot Lodge.

"In a lot of ways the truck stop is like the motel," says Helen. "Our clients are looking forward to a long shower, hearty meal and sound sleep. The big difference is most of them also want 1,500 litres of diesel while they're here!"

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