“Trucking isn’t our core business,” says Paul Johnson, director of logistics for Blacklidge Emulsions, “but it’s definitely an essential part of our operation. As a key part of the cost of serving our customers, we are focused on managing our fleet as cost effectively as possible.”

Based in Gulfport, Miss., Blacklidge Emulsions is a second generation, family owned business that provides a unique product to the paving industry across the southeastern United States. Its asphalt technologies include Trackless Tack.

After a paving firm grinds off an existing pavement layer, Trackless Tack is sprayed on the remaining pavement—it’s the glue that holds asphalt in place. The product dries in 10 minutes so vehicles and equipment traveling on the new surface stay clean of the hot asphalt. What’s more, pavers can start laying the new road with fewer delays. As the paver spreads the hot asphalt, Trackless Tack is activated and the bond between the foundation and new road is formed.

To move raw materials to its production facilities and finished products to contractors and job sites, Blacklidge fields a fleet of 21 tractors and more than 100 tank trailers. Delivering product to customers, Johnson notes, is normally a drop-and-hook operation. “We typically drop a trailer with up to 5,500 gallons of emulsion and bring home one of our other trailers delivered earlier,” he explains further. “If no trailer is there, we have a pump and PTO, which allows us to offload Trackless Tack into our customer’s own vessel.

Managing expenses

“We have operated a company-owned tractor fleet for many years,” Johnson continues, “which includes Kenworth, Peterbilt and International models, as well as a variety of trailer makes. Trucking is a cost of doing business, so to more effectively manage expenses for maintenance and especially repairs and have more fixed costs to make effective product pricing decisions, we began replacing our oldest units with new leased models.”

The eight new Kenworth T880s that Blacklidge Emulsion recently put into service will eventually be followed by more leased units. Before the company decided which truck to spec and lease, however, it set out to find the most fuel-efficient alternative for its operation.

To get real-world results, Johnson offered up a challenge to five truck dealers. “We rented five trucks and evaluated performance and fuel economy on a linehaul run from Gulfport to Tampa Bay and back—a more than 1,100-mile round trip,” he relates. “We provided key specs to the dealers, including a 455-HP engine mated to a nine-speed transmission, and a mid-size sleeper. Each tractor, piloted by the same driver to eliminate variables, hauled a fully loaded trailer to Tampa Bay and returned empty.

“The T880 with a PACCAR MX-13 engine was the clear-cut winner in our evaluation,” Johnson continues. “At 6.5 MPG, it was half a mile per gallon—nearly 10%—better than the second place tractor. At 120,000 miles per tractor per year on average, we calculated we could save $6,500 in fuel per year with each T880.”

Offsetting premiums

The eight Kenworth T880s joining the Blacklidge fleet supplied by Truckworx Kenworth in Mobile, Ala., were also chosen based on projected monthly payments for a four-year, walk-away lease plus extended warranties. “Since the lease factored in purchase price, subtracting residual value, the high projected resale value of the Kenworths came into play,” Johnson says. “What PACCAR Financial is giving us on the back end more than offsets any premium on the T880 and that makes the monthly payment through our finance plan lower.”

Also streamlining operations for Blacklidge is that all maintenance and repairs on the new Kenworths are now handled by the OEM’s dealer network. “We have always used dealers for any tractor service that was more than very minor,” Johnson relates, “but now our in-house maintenance staff can focus even more closely on trailer work, an area in which they are very proficient.”

Johnson goes on to say that along with fuel economy and other cost considerations, driver acceptance of the tractors in the Blacklidge fleet was also important. “Our drivers are usually out for one night at most as they deliver and pick up trailers at customer locations from Louisiana to Florida and as far north as the southern part of North Carolina,” he explains. “If we don’t have drivers who are satisfied with our equipment, we won’t have anyone to drive our trucks, so they are definitely a part of the equation.”

Right size

According to Johnson, the T880’s 52-in. sleeper gives the company flexibility and saves weight. “With the sleepers we can deliver in a 500- to 600-mile radius of our terminals, which cover the southeast,” said Johnson. “This gives our dispatchers the opportunity to utilize every tractor in our fleet regardless of distance. Our drivers may spend a night or two per week in the sleeper, but for the most part, they’re home every night. We really didn’t need a full apartment-sized sleeper, just a room with a bed and the 52-in. sleeper Kenworth offered is the right size for our operation.”

Important as well to Blacklidge and to Johnson in particular was the relationship the company has with its suppliers. “The time that Kenworth’s representatives spent with us to explain their technology, and a visit to the plant where the trucks are built, are the kinds of things that can sometimes tip the scales,” he says.

“Relationships and image are very important to us,” Johnson adds. “We manufacture and distribute a unique product and we like the idea that we can do so with a fleet that mirrors that image.”