No Total takeover

Christopher Serju, Gleaner Writer

French-owned local petrol provider, Total Jamaica, has pumped US$11 million over the past two years into its operations.

However, the company which acquired National in 2004 and, more recently, Esso, said it is not interested in taking over Texaco, which is up for grabs.

"We are aiming to make more revenue out of providing more services, through enhanced shops," Total's Managing Director Gordon Craig told Automotives at Wednesday's launch of the company's brand of 87, 90 and diesel fuel.

"We are not looking to go to 40 or 50 per cent of the market, by buying out someone. Texaco is for sale, but we are not going to bid on that brand. Our strategy right now is to improve the existing network and get more revenue out of that. So we gonna develop bigger shops ... we gonna be offering hot food in them ... and offer various other services," said the managing director.

The Trinidad-born Craig said while there were no official statistics, informal market intelligence had put his company's market share between 25 and 30 per cent.

He outlined Total's strategy going forward as one of diversification.

Pointing to the recent rebuilding of its Dominica Drive station (New Kingston) and the refurbishing at the Manor Park station, Craig said any addition to its network of 54 service stations would come primarily, for example, where a station is being offered for sale in a particularly good location.

In addition to retooling all its service stations - a programme which has been in train since 2009 - five months ago, Total Jamaica began replacing all the canopy lights at service stations with LED lamps in an effort to help its dealers control their electricity costs. LED lamps offer longer life and high energy efficiency, but capital costs are higher than those of incandescent and fluorescent lamps.

Replacement programme

"We pay for everything else here. That (electricity) is the one thing they (dealers) pay for, as we are putting in the LED lamps, at a cost of US$600 each, but they use about 20 per cent of the power of a regular canopy light. The replacement programme is at our cost and is part of the overall refurbishing programme.

"We are replacing the air-conditioning units in all our service stations in an effort to reduce costs and produce better cooling. Also, we are replacing our chillers, upgrading stalls. In addition, we have launched a fuel card that is unique to Total, which we hope to promote extensively early next year. In the meantime, we have begun to provide a wider range of services to our customers."

These services include a free, new up-to-date road map of Jamaica, which incorporates recent developments, such as North Coast Highway. It fits easily into the glove compartment of a vehicle.

"Unlike the perception that the public has that oil companies are always ripping off customers, we provide a number of services at our cost," Craig added.

Total - which operates in more than 130 countries - has an international promotion, 'Top Oscar', in which it encourages 'mystery shoppers' who visit its operations to assess the quality of service, performance of staff and aesthetics of the stations.