CALGARY, Alta. – If you’re in the petroleum products hauling business, it pays dividends to be a bit of a scamp. Not just any scamp, however.

Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary defines “scamp” as: “A playful, mischievous, or naughty young person.” But when it comes to the Canadian Petroleum Products Institute (CPPI), the word – as applied to the winner of its Best Overall Carrier award – actually refers to a trucking company based out of Langley, B.C., with branches in Kamloops and Sherwood Park, Alta.
Scamp Transport may have been the CPPI’s ‘best of breed’ for the year 2010, but it was only one of four companies honoured by the Institute at the group’s seventh annual awards luncheon, held in Calgary on Apr. 27.

Speaking to the approximately 30 guests and dignitaries in attendance, John Skowronski, CPPI’s director of environmental affairs for the western division, noted that since the organization started tracking carrier performance some 15 years ago, there has been almost continuous improvement, with incidents down from a high of 0.63 per 1,000 deliveries to 2010’s low of 0.27.

“We established a benchmark, a target to achieve and try to improve on,” Skowronski told attendees, “and of many factors, the most critical is the safe handling of petroleum products.”

Four of the five honours are awarded strictly statistically, but the Best Overall award, goes beyond that to include “Qualitative aspects based on the nomination by the member companies who use the carrier.”

In effect, Skowronski said it’s “A vote of confidence from the customer, based on aspects such as customer service, paper processing time, and the like.”

Nominees not only have to show improved performance; they must also exceed the Institute’s benchmark, which for 2010 was set at 0.40 incidents per 1,000 deliveries. Only contract carriers are eligible – no branded carriers are considered – and the carrier must have been contracted with a member company for a minimum of two years.

To be eligible for the best overall award, a carrier must not only be nominated by member companies, but must have made a minimum of 4,000 contracted deliveries in each of the previous two years.

The four carriers honoured made over 98,495 deliveries collectively in 2010 on behalf of CPPI member companies in western Canada.

The envelope, please…

The Improvement Award for Reduced Product Mixes went to Trimac Transportation (accepted by Alan Potts) and was one of two awards the company earned. Trimac was also handed the Improvement Award for Reduced Vehicle Accidents.

The Improvement Award for Reduced Product Spills was accepted by general manager Jeff Salmon on behalf of Vancouver Island-based Bridgeway Transport.

Petrohaul’s Ron Wiebe accepted the Improvement Award for Reduced Personal Injuries.

And Jay Campbell, Scamp’s general manager/CFO, accepted the Best Overall Carrier award, which consisted of a trophy, a plaque for each of Scamp’s three offices, and decals for Scamp’s drivers to wear on their hard hats.

“I’m honoured to get a trophy like this,” Campbell said, and paraphrased the first president of the US to illustrate what motivates him: “George Washington encouraged his people,” he said, “when he said ‘Let us push our standards to a level which only the wise and the honest can repair’.”

In other words, Campbell continued, “Don’t compromise your integrity, don’t compromise your moral code, do not compromise any of your ethics, and it will be the guaranteed formula to find you success and happiness in life.”

Campbell said it’s a philosophy to which he’s subscribed on both a personal and a business level, and noted that the CPPI subscribes to it as well.

“The CPPI was founded so that we could enhance the safety, enhance the efficiencies that this industry sorely needed,” Campbell said. “There’s a saying with Scamp: ‘You never forget where you came from, you never forget what got you there’ and I’m forever indebted to the CPPI for what you’ve done, through thick and thin. You’ve helped us beyond what you know.”
Campbell dedicated the award to Scamp’s entire fleet.

“We all know our success is determined at the end of the hose,” he said. “I couldn’t have done it without anyone in the organization; they’ve all been an integral part of getting us to where we are and I thank them for that.”

“You need a values system that’s going to drive you forward,” Campbell continued, “and at Scamp, I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt, it is built around safety. It is the core value of our organization, the catalyst that drives us and the fuel in the tank that drives us toward that flawless execution we want to deliver to our customers each and every day.”