A Top 50 Indie operator who had 10 sites signed up to take fuel from Harvest has successfully transitioned them all to Jet on the same terms that the defunct supplier used to offer.
Muresh Seevaratnam, director of Deansbrook Group, which operates a total of 13 forecourts, says the process of changing his Harvest sites was a “total nightmare”, but all 10 are now proudly sporting Jet liveries.
“I was Harvest’s largest dealer”, Seevaratnam explains. “And before the Jet deal was secured I had to buy fuel at spot prices, which meant I had to pay up front, while the higher prices ate into all my margins.”
The saga began in July last year with the collapse of the Lindsey oil refinery, whose owner, Prax, was also the parent company of Harvest Energy.
“I’ve heard some other retailers are still stuck, but Harvest just totally disappeared, and I was able to sign with Jet,” Seevaratnam says.
He adds that having been a Jet dealer in the past he had a good relationship with the firm, though his sites had to be changed over one by one, a stressful process that took two and a half months.
Jet isn’t the only firm to have stepped into the void left by the demise of Prax: earlier in the week we reported how Essar Energy increased its forecourt presence last year after agreeing to supply 47 previously Harvest dealers with fuel.
