Managing corporate vehicle fleets: growing industry for leased equipment.

AuthorSharpe, Margaret
PositionTRANSPORTATION

Corporate fleets in Alaska are defined by the company that uses them. For the mining industry, it might be diesel crew-cab trucks or shuttle busses used to transport employees at a remote camp. On the North Slope, a broader range of fleet is needed to meet the needs of the different companies that operate there: SUVs, busses, vans, and crew-cab or flatbed pickups are typical. In town, corporate fleet vehicles run the gamut of street legal transportation.

On the North Slope as well as metropolitan areas, corporations have trended toward leasing fleet vehicles and relegating the management to the leasing agency. Delta Leasing LLC has been managing on the behalf of its clients for some time. Rudi yon Imhof, president of Delta, says this option frees a company to focus more on company goals. "They've got bigger fish to fry," he says. "They don't want to worry about the details on vehicle equipment. They just want good, quality equipment that is operational and runs." It also allows for regular upgrades on vehicles, enabling companies to sustain state-of-the-art equipment and affordably replace outdated equipment.

Different corporations have different needs. Delta clients include mostly oil and gas, mining and transportation companies. "On the North Slope, all of our vehicles are (leased) out to third parties: ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil, BP, Shell Oil, Repsol, Linc Energy, Savant--all the players," says Chris Maynard, Delta's director of business development. Their aim is to simplify the process for their clients--from providing the exact model to maintaining and even replacing the vehicle should it start to age and lose performance.

The company began in 2002: three Anchorage business men, one small contract, and 10 trucks. They leased the trucks for a project in Delta Junction--thus the name. By the end of the contract, they had 30 to 40 vehicles at the project site. Today Delta has close to 400 vehicles in Prudhoe and over 100 in Anchorage.

In the Anchorage market, Delta provides vehicles for the corporate employee; they also service, track, and maintain them. "We want to take the day-to-day headache of managing a corporate fleet off their hands ... we take care of that for them," says Maynard. Von Imhof points out that they work behind the scenes in coordinating all the vehicle services for the client. Through communication and coordination, Delta can pick up a vehicle from the corporate site's parking lot, install studded snow tires and service the vehicle, returning it back to the...

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