Opinion ID: 1149684
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: hydro-walk's case

Text: At the commission hearing, Hydro-Walk's president, Ronald G. Walker, testified his business is wholesaling, buying petroleum products from refineries and terminals and selling them to truck stops and service stations around Shreveport, Texarkana and East Texas. Hydro-Walk sells to three of its potential shippers, Ida, Clements and Bayou State. Under its interstate authority, Hydro-Walk also hauls for three or four of its prospective intrastate shippers. The company's office and terminal are located in Greenwood, near Shreveport. It operates twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. The company employs three full-time drivers and owns three tractors and six trailers. At present, none of its units have been set aside for the transportation of crude oil. [4] Hydro-Walk seeks authorization to haul intrastate for hire. If issued the permit, Walker stated Hydro-Walk would act primarily as a back-up to its prospective shippers' equipment. Hydro-Walk plans to concentrate its efforts on smaller convenience store operators, such as its prospective shippers, so that when things are slow on [Hydro-Walk's] end and there's [sic] may be real busy we'll be taking their overflow, trying to help out any time we have a truck that has slack time, delivering product [sic] for them for their own locations wherever they designate us to go to deliver that product. (Transcript, p. 5.) Walker admitted his business had decreased. Only fifty-five percent of Hydro-Walk's equipment is being utilized. He assumed the business of carriers in the area is also depressed. Walker did not anticipate his wholesale market increasing, preventing him from meeting the back-up needs of his prospective shippers. If necessary, he is willing to hire additional drivers. The first of Hydro-Walk's five supporting shipper witnesses to testify was Grady Staggers, President of Staggers Oil Company of Louisiana, Marshall, Texas. Staggers Oil operates convenience stores selling gasoline and diesel fuel under the name of Texaco in Texas and Shell in Louisiana. All eight of its Louisiana stores are located in the Shreveport area. Staggers met Walker after Staggers Oil purchased two stores from a Lake Charles chain which purchased petroleum from Hydro-Walk. Staggers Oil continued purchasing petroleum from Hydro-Walk, until the stores began operating under the name Shell, and Staggers Oil started hauling for itself. Staggers complemented Hydro-Walk's expeditious service. Often, the stores needed products immediately, due to their limited storage capacities, and could not wait twenty-four hours for a shipment. Staggers Oil has one transport with which it supplies petroleum and petroleum products to its twenty-five stores. Recently, several stores were acquired. Consequently, Staggers recognized that one transport working three shifts, seven days a week would be impracticable for hauling from Arcadia, Louisiana to Shreveport and from Waskom, Texas to Longview and Marshall during the peak summer months. To date, he had never called upon a Louisiana intrastate carrier, although he has used Texas carriers. Staggers has not consulted the yellow pages or contacted the PSC to inquire which Louisiana intrastate carriers have terminals available in the Arcadia area. Hydro-Walk's second shipper witness was Gary Northern, vice-president of Ida Gasoline Company located twenty-five miles north of Shreveport. Ida blends gasoline stocks into finished motor gasoline, selling to retailers, wholesalers and jobbers. It operates six transports but often needs the services of outside carriers. Ida uses Hydro-Walk to haul interstate from Waskom, Texas. It would prefer using Hydro-Walk intrastate and hauling from Pennzoil's Atlas Refinery in Shreveport. But, as Hydro-Walk is not licensed to haul intrastate, Ida buys Texas products. Northern testified that Hydro-Walk has always worked expeditiously, delivering approximately sixty loads a month, with a two or three hour delivery time per load. Ida prefers using Hydro-Walk because, as another small company operator, Hydro-Walk understands its needs. If Hydro-Walk obtained the contract carrier permit, Ida anticipated having Hydro-Walk haul ninety loads a month. Jocto, one of the protestant carriers, provides Ida with adequate common carrier services by hauling products out of Baton Rouge to Ida's Shreveport plant. Ida does not use any of the other protestant carriers. In the past, Dupré has sought Ida's business. But Ida will not patronize Dupré because Cajun Energy, the sister company of Dupré, competes with Ida by selling to the same convenience stores. Protestant Stephens has also sought Ida's business. A few years back, Stephens adequately serviced Ida by committing a truck to haul for it once a day. Northern testified that when Ida needed three loads a day by midnight, however, Stephens could not meet Ida's needs. The third shipper witness to testify was Robert Clements, president of Clements Oil Corporation located in Atlanta, Texas, about fifty-four miles north of Shreveport. Clements Oil has two bulk plants, one in Atlanta and one in Mansfield, Louisiana. It also has two convenience stores in Coushatta and one in Mansfield. Clements Oil has used Hydro-Walk to haul interstate for its convenience stores and bulk plants. Clements appreciates a carrier which transports expeditiously. Clements Oil wishes to use Hydro-Walk's services for its overflow work when drilling increases during the summer months. Most of its own equipment, three trucks, four transport trailers and four vans, are used for its commercial industry account. Clements testified that in the last six months, his company has used intrastate carriers twice, but he did not recall the names of the carriers. Clements Oil hopes to increase its needs with the expected summertime oilfield increase, but Clements admitted his company's needs are speculative. Daryl Drago, the area supervisor foreman for Pel State Oil, was the fourth shipper witness called to testify. He stated that approximately thirty of Pel State's stores are located in the Shreveport area, but the company has only one driver and transport for that area. Expeditious delivery of its products is consequential. If a transport breaks down or one of its stores has an incorrect stick reading creating an urgent need, Pel State wants a carrier who can deliver quickly. Pel State has found that if it uses a carrier infrequently, that carrier is not as willing to provide prompt, immediate service. Drago testified Pel State was not interested in using protestant carrier Dupré. The company considered Dupré a competitor because the Dupré family operates Canal Stores, a chain of convenience stores. In the Baton Rouge area, Pel State uses protestant Stephens and is very satisfied with its performance. Nevertheless, Stephens has not been requested to service the Shreveport area stores even though its base terminal is in Bossier City. Since Stephens had not proven itself in the Shreveport area, but Hydro-Walk has proven itself through its interstate deliveries, Pel State wants to continue using Hydro-Walk's Shreveport area services. The last witness to testify in support of Hydro-Walk's application was Wayne Taylor, manager of crude oil at Bayou State Oil Corporation located on Highway 71, a mile from the Arkansas border. Bayou State is primarily an oil producer and a marketer of crude oil. Until a few months before the hearing, Bayou State had three transports. Prior to the hearing, though, Bayou State eliminated one of the transports. With only two remaining, it needed a back-up carrier for occasions when one of the two transports broke down. Nevertheless, Taylor had not contacted the PSC to discover which carriers were available in the Shreveport area. Bayou State's business peaks during the last ten days of the month. It did not have sufficient volume for three transports, but often has more than enough for two. Bayou State wants Hydro-Walk as a back-up and to handle inventory overflow while its own transports are in the field gathering crude. In the past, Bayou State used the services of a Louisiana carrier, James Davison. Davison is now in the crude oil business; thus, he is a competitor. When Bayou State operated its refinery, it used common carriers such as Wheeling and protestant Stephens. Taylor remarked that common carriers did not appear to be interested in transporting crude oil, as none had solicited his business.