Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Quantem has kept Australia moving. Literally.
Quantem is the leading independent provider of bulk liquid terminal storage across Australia and New Zealand with a network of 12 terminals and the capacity to store over 600 million litres across 467 tanks.
We have maintained a vital role in supporting Australia’s infrastructure requirements during COVID by ensuring we continue to store and load/unload materials that are used in everyday products.
Indeed since the onset of the pandemic, over 4.6 million tonnes of products have passed through our terminals, including servicing over 700 vessels and loading/unloading 170,000 trucks.
“We haven’t missed a beat,” says Quantem Chief Operating Officer, Steve Rasdell.
“We have always understood the importance of our operations to maintain and support the economy and that focus became even more intense during the pandemic.
“From the beginning, we implemented a COVID-19 management plan and conducted COVID response exercises to ensure our people could operate in a safe environment and that our terminals were fit for purpose.
“In addition to all the relevant Government guidelines, we also introduced operating site entry procedures including health screening for all employees, customers, contractors, suppliers and visitors entering Quantem sites.
“Entry to Quantem operating sites has been limited to business-critical activities only and our operations teams have been split where possible to minimise risk to infection of the wider workforce. We have also pre-screened incoming ships and vessels and their personnel.
“That has enabled each of our terminals to operate through the pandemic without recording a single case of COVID while ensuring the safe unloading and transport of materials for our customers,” says Rasdell.
Bulk liquids vital to Australia’s infrastructure
Quantem stores and distributes a wide range of bulk liquids at its facilities across Australia which are used in a variety of everyday applications that are vital to the ongoing functioning of the economy.
This includes ground fuels such as diesel and petrol and also aviation fuels (av gas and jet fuel) which are vital to Australia’s transport infrastructure needs. It also includes fertilisers and chemicals such as ethanol and methanol which are important ingredients in agriculture and the food and pharmaceutical industries.
Quantem also stores and distributes materials such as caustic soda and sulphuric acid which are essential requirements in water treatment processes and for extraction of minerals from ore.
“All of our customers operate essential services and we are proud to play our part in ensuring uninterrupted supply of these materials to keep the economy ticking, even during the most challenging periods of the pandemic,” says Rasdell.
Quantem also pays a vital role in facilitating exports from its terminals, including tallow and used cooking oils which are refined for use in bio-fuels.
Team effort
Rasdell says it’s a team effort that has ensured the ongoing safe operations of terminals across the Quantem network to support customers’ requirements.
“Quantem has 200 employees and everyone has a part to play in this process. The obvious focus is on safety at our sites, and that remains our number one core value.
“However, our other values such as accountability and partnering mean that everyone is responsible for keeping our terminals operational, particularly during the pandemic and it’s really pleasing to see how everyone at Quantem has stepped up to meet this challenge.
“As a result, we are really well placed to continue our role in ensuring the economy can function during this pandemic and beyond,” Rasdell said.