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retail trucks to pull it out and distribute it to their customers. It's a throughput arrangement. "We make some money on the transport end of it – bringing
the product in – and as the retail trucks pull it out we charge a throughput fee," LeoGrande said. "It's a small amount, but any- thing we can do to add to the income stream is always good." That desire to be in control and regulate inventory led the
company to purchase the transport trucks instead of hiring and relying on an outside carrier, LeoGrande said. "You're always a little bit vulnerable to whatever's happening with an outside carrier," LeoGrande pointed out. "Are they busy? Did they have a truck break down? Did a driver not come in?" If any or all of those things hap- pen, LeoGrande said, "We're sitting here waiting for delivery." Leaving those crucial aspects of the business in somebody
else's hands just didn't sit well with LeoGrande or his father, Donald Sr. and uncle, Joseph LeoGrande Jr., who manage the family business together. "We really want to be involved and control pretty much every
aspect of the business," LeoGrande said. "We feel that gives us the best ability to serve our customers. It's been a theme with the company all along." The transport trucks pick up fuel oil from large terminals on the south shore of Long Island, about 15 miles from Windsor
Fuel's base. "The terminals there are fed by the Buckeye pipe- line, and they're also fed by barge, so the supply is very reliable," LeoGrande said. That the terminals are relatively close provides another benefit: lower mileage on the transport trucks. "We take real good care of them because they're a very big
investment," LeoGrande said. The tractors each carry a price tag of more than $100,000. "They fall into the category of heavy haulers. They're a little bit more heavy-duty, and higher-powered, than most." Likewise with the tank trailers, which were spec'd with three
rear axles to support more weight. "We had them purpose-built," LeoGrande said. "When you're hauling fuel oil typically you just have one big compartment" inside the tank, because only one fuel is being carried, he noted. Gasoline trailer tanks, on the other hand, usually have five different compartments to hold various grades of fuel. LeoGrande said Windsor Fuel spec'd the all-alumi- num tanks with three compartments so that if an accident should happen, and result in a rupture, a spill would be limited to the amount in the compartment, as opposed to the entire contents of the tank. On the service side of the business, Windsor Fuel is diversi-
fied, doing all things HVAC. It ventured into air conditioning some fifteen years ago, for instance. "A large number of our
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Email: sabbate@cetane.net www.fueloilnews.com | FUEL OIL NEWS | JUNE 2012 19
