Operating since 1927, Fred Smith Company focuses on asphalt laydown operations, sitework projects, as well as public infrastructure, including construction of roadways, airports, railroads, bridges, schools, and universities. With its 1.200+ employees, Fred Smith Company manages projects from pre-construction through completion throughout the states of North Carolina and Virginia.
Fred Smith Company has dispersed physical operations in multiple sites, running hundreds of trucks, over 1,000 off-road equipment vehicles, and using over 2½ M USG of fuel annually. Plus, serving mission-critical customers like the North Carolina Department of Transportation, Fred Smith cannot afford backlogs in the supply chain and was looking for a fuel management partner who can help ensure fuel availability and business continuity during crisis situations.
World Kinect analyzed Fred Smith Company’s fuel supply chain, existing onsite and satellite storage infrastructure, volume requirements, as well as its price risk management approach, and together with the customer developed a plan for fuel supply continuity and price stabilization during potential emergency weather and market events.
World Kinect provided bulk fuel delivery to the customer on contracted basis, which helps to prioritize Fred Smith as first in line for fuel deliveries when supply is tight due to weather or pipeline issues.
Recently, when the local pipeline closed due to fires, causing significant fuel shortages in the state, World Kinect brought our fuel trucks from out-of-state to ensure Fred Smith and other affected contracted customers did not go without fuel. Fred Smith was not even aware that the regional fuel terminal was closed, and the company operated as usual.
World Kinect hedged the customer’s contracted fuel to help stabilize projected costs, allowing Fred Smith to “have confidence in knowing that the locked contracts are going to remain despite any kind of market fluctuation”.
Plus, being a physical provider of fuel storage, World Kinect was able to procure portable trans cube tanks to offsite locations to help Fred Smith remain fueled even on remote one-off job sites.
World Kinect and Fred Smith designed a game plan for fuel supply assurance before the last two major hurricanes and a few other major pipeline events, so that the customer always had the necessary fuel.
