Supagas has responded to an issue impacting its truck fleet in Western Australia last week, confirming a temporary interruptions to deliveries in the state.
Supagas says a BPAY processing delay affecting vehicle registration renewals was the cause of the temporary pause on October 23, resulting in the affected fleet being stood down, vehicles secured in safe locations and established safety procedures activated.
The registrations were then confirmed by the WA Department of Transport on the morning of October 24, resulting in services recommencing.
At the time, the Transport Workers’ Union (TWU) raised alarms about the pause and the resulting drivers having to park up trucks.
Supagas says it paid the registration renewals for its WA trailing and rigid LPG assets and cylinder delivery trucks via BPAY. Payment was made on the due date, but funds did not clear before close of business, preventing the Department of Transport from finalising renewals that day.
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Supagas managing director Erol Arican says once identified, Supagas parked vehicles in safe locations and coordinated a controlled stand-down of approximately 24 hours. Registrations cleared the next morning and trips recommenced.
“Safety is our number one priority,” Arican says.
“No driver was asked to operate unsafely, illegally or go without pay for their time. We paused operations, and worked closely with regulators and our transport partner to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. We regret the disruption to our drivers and customers and have strengthened our internal processes to prevent a recurrence.”
Supagas also worked with KTrans, its bulk gas haulage partner, to coordinate safe staging of assets and a rapid restart, prioritising hospitals, aged care and other essential services.
Process improvements are underway focused on payment method cut-off times, automated confirmation checks and real-time alerts.
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