Review of Operations - Marketing (continued)
Contribution from card activities
Caltex StarCard strengthened its national market leadership in 2007 with a 9% increase in sales volumes over the previous year. New business in 2007 included a large contract with the Queensland Government.
StarCash gift card sales remained solid with strong sales to commercial customers. Retail sales are expected to rise with the launch of a new system at the end of 2007 which enables cards to be loaded and activated at the point of sale.
Major expansion in biofuel sales
Caltex trebled the volume of biofuels sold in 2007 and increased the number of service stations selling ethanol blended petrol and/or biodiesel from 237 to 306.
The company more than met its commitment under the Australian Government’s Biofuels Action Plan, exceeding the 2007 target by 50%.
Bio E10 Unleaded, which contains 10% ethanol blended with regular unleaded petrol, is sold in many Caltex sites from Canberra to Cairns with the product offered at 207 sites in NSW, Queensland and the ACT.
The network continues to expand and the proportion of Bio E10 Unleaded in petrol sales at these sites is growing.
Caltex also sells New Generation Diesel containing 2% biodiesel at over 150 sites in NSW. In addition, Caltex sells B5 (a blend of 5% biodiesel) and B20 (a 20% blend) to commercial truck and bus fleet customers in South Australia and NSW.
During the year, Caltex converted infrastructure at a number of retail sites and conducted a biofuels marketing, education and promotional campaign with both activities supported with some assistance from government grants designed to encourage the growth of E10 petrol sales.
Improvements in safety and cost management
Employees’ strong commitment to lifting safety performance resulted in a record low lost time injury frequency rate and a significantly improved accident frequency rate for tanker trucks and motor vehicles in 2007. Many areas in Caltex Marketing operated all year without any incidents.
A new Caltex direction that tanker drivers should decline to supply sites considered unsafe is prompting important safety improvements to rural and regional customers’ premises around the country.
There was also major effort and capital expenditure invested in 2007 in safety and compliance projects targeting Caltex’s storage depots, service stations and pumps. This included the launch of a program to replace aged underground storage tanks and the installation of automatic tank gauging systems.
In a move designed to improve risk management and efficiency, in 2007 the decision was made to appoint a national single contractor to deliver maintenance services to service stations and depots. A strong focus on cost management resulted in Marketing’s unit costs decreasing to 1.62 cents per litre in 2007 from 1.75 cents per litre in 2006.
These outcomes demonstrate the excellent job by the Marketing team of focusing on the priorities and managing the controllables in 2007 which firmed the platform for continued growth.