In consulting, we often find ourselves working out some interesting solutions. Togiak Natives Limited (TNL) has been working with Keegan Fritts and Andrey Maslov of Transcend Strategic Consulting (TSC) to source a fuel truck for the village. This truck will be used to deliver heating oil and gasoline to the community, providing an essential service. To add to the challenge, the truck would need to be delivered before fall to the remote village of Togiak, which is inaccessible by road. This meant the team would have to expedite the process to ensure the truck would sail on one of the final barges leaving Seattle by July.
Keegan just happens to have a CDL license, and he took the lead on finding a suitable truck via Puget Sound Truck Sales (PSTS). Collectively TNL and TSC sourced a 4-wheel drive fuel truck built for a fleet company in Canada. Keegan noticed the tank’s measurements were in liters, not gallons, requesting that the metering and ticketing system receive the proper modifications with a short window of time. The truck looked great and was on track to process through the regulatory and certification processes as Canadian tank requirements are more stringent than those in the United States. Regardless of the tanks manufacturing origin and regulatory requirements, United States Department of Transportation requires a waiting period of 7-30 days. To add to the urgency, PSTS and the U.S import broker expedited a request to the Director of the U.S. DOT in Washington D.C., to process the approval of the truck as soon as possible, indicating that further delay would be a matter of public safety. Keegan ensured the conversion of the metering units, rubber floor board installation, and all the paperwork was in order by the time the truck arrived in Washington state for the last steps of the process before boarding the ship to Anchorage.
When the truck arrived in the Seattle area, and Andrey and Keegan went out to take a look in person. Everything looked great, and Ken at PSTS made sure all the details were in order. Ken noted he had never before seen a truck successfully make it through the DOT review this quickly before. The truck is on its way to Anchorage where it will arrive in time to be transferred onto the barge to Dillingham. Once the truck arrives in Dillingham, a local barge operator will transport the fuel truck to its final destination in Togiak, providing a much needed service for the community.
The completion of this endeavor not only satisfied TNL’s specific needs, but it will ensure that the remote Village of Togiak in the Bristol Bay region of Alaska will have undisturbed heating oil deliveries all winter long.
