How newly formed Oxalis Logistics Group is already a market leader in several sectors
Formed recently in February 2024 as a result of the Hoyer Group selling part of its portfolio, Oxalis Logistics Group (Oxalis) is the driving force behind many of the world’s largest oil, gas, energy, and industrial companies. Specializing in the transportation and distribution of bulk fuels and gases, the company offers innovative, end-to-end solutions tailored to clients’ needs across a wide range of products.
The company’s solutions are brought to life by a workforce of more than 2700 colleagues and a fleet exceeding 1900 trucks and tank trailers. With over 100 operational locations across the UK, Germany, Ireland, and Czechia, Oxalis prides itself on agility, providing industry-leading solutions in a safe and seamless manner.
To learn more about the foundation of Oxalis and its operations, we sit down with Allan Davison, CEO, and Nichola Blenkinsop, HR Director. Having enrolled in the Hoyer Group’s management development scheme over 20 years ago, Allan has worked in commercial and operational roles in the fuels, gas, and chemicals markets, bringing much experience to his current role as CEO.
“The Hoyer Group sold part of its portfolio to an investor in February 2024, out of which the Oxalis brand was born,” Allan begins. “Under new ownership, Oxalis continues to specialize in the transportation and distribution of bulk fuels and gases in the UK, Ireland, Germany, and Czechia. The entire management team came with the business, so we remain a market leader with retained experience and expertise in specialist products.”
Nichola adds: “As part of the sale, we had to rebrand. We operate with a ‘people first’ approach, and so we engaged with the entire team to create a new company name that had international branding and aligned with our values. The response was outstanding and ‘Oxalis’ stood out as a clear winner.
“The brand has been very well accepted due to employee involvement, and we’re progressing well with rebranding our offices and vehicles,” she continues. “Our customers have been complimentary too, suggesting that our tagline of ‘safely delivering excellence’ perfectly encapsulates the role we play in customers’ supply chains.”
Geographic coverage
In terms of products, Oxalis transports bulk petroleum goods like petrol, diesel, gasoil, and kerosene, as well as bitumen, bitumen emulsions, fuel oils and lubricants for retail, commercial, and aviation use. It provides intermodal and road solutions for bulk, mini bulk, and cylinder gases, including air gases, CO2, LPG, LNG, H2, and chemical gases. For the aviation sector specifically, Oxalis boasts the resource and capability to provide jet A1 fueling bridging services to airports, controlling the product from storage terminal to aircraft wing.
“We provide an extensive range of services from simply providing trucks and drivers for customer transport, all the way through to providing end-to-end logistics solutions,” Allan elaborates. “We have a bespoke transport management system (TMS) to automatically generate orders, manage our customers’ stocks, efficiently plan routes for our trucks and drivers, and reconcile deliveries made so our clients can invoice the end customer accurately and on time.
“Our core markets are the UK, Germany, Ireland, and Czechia, but we also undertake deliveries in Sweden and Switzerland. In the UK and Germany particularly, our geographic coverage is unmatched by any other haulier. While growth opportunities exist in our current markets, we will always look for areas of strategic investment.”
Sustainable solutions
Alongside traditional fuels, the business is a leading logistics partner to organizations developing sustainable solutions to reduce emissions. Oxalis is currently involved in green H2, bio-CNG, bio-CO2, bio-LPG, biofuels, and carbon capture projects.
“While bitumen volumes remain stable and aviation volumes are increasing, it is no secret that traditional retail fuels are declining in favor of alternative fuels and energies,” Allan explains. “We will continue to invest in and provide logistics solutions for every kind of bulk petroleum-based product, but we are looking at emerging markets and working with organizations developing solutions to reduce emissions.
“We are already involved with several projects around green hydrogen, biofuels, and carbon capture, bringing the high level of product and technical expertise we’ve become known for to a new application. Looking to the future, it’s important that we ensure our business develops in these emerging and growing markets at a faster pace than the declining retail fuels markets.”
To complement its portfolio of sustainable fuels, Oxalis is embracing ESG within its own operations. “Our focus on environmental sustainability is evidenced by our strategic goal to reduce our carbon emissions by 50 percent by 2030 (compared to 2019), which is an aggressive target and almost unheard of for a company of our scale in this industry,” Allan states.
“There are many practical initiatives in place to meet our sustainability goals, including load optimization, fleet upgrades, driver training, operational optimization such as reducing empty running, and the use of green energy in our offices. However, our primary focus is alternative fuels. In 2023, we reduced our Scope 1 emissions by over 1000 tons as a result of using alternative greener fuels like, for example, HVO. 
“While we acknowledge that development in infrastructure around alternative fuels, which requires government support, is still very much needed, we believe that investing in alternative fuels is key for our industry to achieve sustainable progress. We are therefore confident that by focusing our efforts on alternative fuels, we will continue to deliver substantial environmental benefits.”
Nichola confirms: “One of our core values is responsibility, which means we emphasize safe and ethical behavior. We have a clear responsibility to our people, for whom we invest heavily in areas like occupational health, apprenticeships, development programs, and Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs). We also engage with the local community by raising money for charities and we even sponsored a game for the Huddersfield Giants rugby team!”
Unmatched network
Every Oxalis journey is driven by the company’s values. “One of our core values is agility, so our entire fleet and network of facilities are built around this concept,” Allan says. “With over 2300 driver colleagues, we provide a totally unmatched operational network, offering flexible and cost-effective solutions for all products and services under one company. We ensure that our fleet can work across a range of businesses and most of our drivers are trained across multiple products, allowing us to move resources where needed while maintaining operational efficiency.
“We also prioritize safety, using driver training programs developed in-house, which far exceed any legal requirements or guidelines. We’re currently rolling out ‘Go Defensive,’ a new defensive driving program for all drivers, even those who drive company cars. Of course, we also offer bespoke manual handling programs and operating procedures, ensuring our people are trained to the highest standards.”
From our conversation, it’s clear to see that investing in environmental sustainability and employee wellbeing while fueling clients to achieve optimum efficiency, is at the core of Oxalis’ operations. “In 2024, we’re replacing around 200 tractor units and 80 trailers in a major fleet upgrade,” Allan reveals. “We’ve also recently invested more than £2 million in a full upgrade of our OVC camera and telematics systems, providing us with the latest in-cab technologies. The new systems will enable us to access accurate and timely information, increasing planning efficiency and safety performance while also improving fuel economy and reducing emissions.
“Our vision for the future is clear; we want to be recognized as the innovative logistics partner that drives positive change and creates a more sustainable future,” Allan concludes. “By 2030, we’re striving to reduce our emissions by 50 percent compared to 2019 and reduce the number of main safety incidents by 25 percent compared to 2023. Overall, we aim to grow the business in both new and existing product markets and improve our profitability by optimizing process flows and enhancing operational efficiency.”