Business Central
DEVELOPMENT » Gull NZ Ltd
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‘Gull effect’ about to spread Karen Phelps Gull has a large pipeline of new station rollouts planned for 2017 and the company’s chief operating officer, Ulrik Olsen, predicts it will be its biggest year of growth yet. Gull plans to open 10 stations thisb year, including two in the Bay of Plenty, one in Wanganui and one in Auckland. One of the latest to open is Gull New Plymouth. Set up as an unmanned station on 107-127 Leach St, it has drive-through, 24/7, pay-at-the-pump technology, providing Regular 91, Gull Force 10 (98) and diesel. He says that since it opened on January 27, petrol prices in the region have fallen because of the increased competition. “The ‘Gull effect’, as the New Zealand Automobile Association calls it, causes a localised price drop following Gull’s introduction to a new location. In New Plymouth the price of fuel dropped 15 cents a litre on our opening day and has remained that way.” He says the company has always had its eye on New Plymouth, but because Gull imports its own fuel into a depot at Mt Maunganui, it had to wait for the right site in New Plymouth to make the venture possible. When a piece of land in a high-traffic-count area was identified, the move was made. Unmanned stations help make such ventures affordable, says Ulrik. The company opened its first unmanned station around 10 years ago in Hamilton and now has 23 in the North Island. “We believe the people of New Plymouth have been paying too much for fuel for too long, and we have high hopes for our sales figures and believe this will be a good station.” Another unmanned station opened recently
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Gull NZ has opened unmanned stations at Wellsford above and New Plymouth below recently, and plans to open 10 new stations this year.
at 201-207 Rodney St, Wellsford. Gull Wellsford will also provide 12 carparks for customers of the Four Square next door. “Even if motorists don’t buy their petrol from Gull, everyone in and travelling through Wellsford will benefit from lower fuel prices,” says Gull retail development manager Karl Mischewski.
“We think it’s about time our competitors take an honest look at what they’ve been charging for fuel in the area and that local motorists choose to vote with their dollar at Gull Wellsford, showing they’re no longer happy with being ripped off at the pump.” Because Gull is a family-owned business with lower operating costs than its competitors, it can offer better prices on fuel, he says. This forces other fuel chains near Gull stations to drop prices. Gull has 77 stations in the North Island. Ulrik Olsen says the company has also been instrumental in bringing biofuel options to New Zealand drivers since 2007. Gull biofuel is produced from renewable and sustainable sources – not extracted from the ground like other fossil fuels, he says. Gull retails two types of biofuel: bioethanol blended with premium petrol for petrol vehicles, and biodiesel blended with mineral diesel for diesel vehicles. The company’s tankers collect ethanol as part of a return-trip route, adding no extra carbon footprint to this production process, says Ulrik.
The company’s Force 10, which is available at all Gull stations, is the most popular of the biofuel options. It is a high-performance 98 octane fuel made with 10 per cent sustainable bioethanol. Ulrik says Gull Force 10 emits up to eight per cent less carbon dioxide than other highperformance fuels. It has been endorsed by New Zealand’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA)as an environmentally friendly fuel, he says. Another popular product is Diesel Max, which combines the company’s ultra-low, sulphur diesel with renewable fuel (biodiesel) to improve performance and lower carbondioxide emissions. “Our focus on biofuels goes hand in hand with our family-oriented business model and our focus on corporate responsibility,” he says. “It’s our responsibility as an oil company to look to the future and to do things right whether that be biofuels or ensuring consumers have access to competitive pricing.”
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