Stafford’s eye future markets with €3 million expansion
A€3 MILLION smokeless fuel manufacturing plant opened by Ireland and Leinster rugby star Tadhg Furlong in September is one of the most modern and forward thinking in the country. Stafford Fuels opened the new plant at Raheen, New Ross, which is producing innovative low smoke, high heat solid fuels for domestic heating customers.
The company is the largest privately owned distributor of solid fuels in Ireland. All imports are received onto the company’s private jetty located at its state-of-the-art bagging plant at Raheen. From this location, Stafford Fuels distribute solid fuel throughout Ireland.
The opening of the new plant has secured the existing 35 jobs in Stafford Fuels and also created six new positions.
In total between 25 and 30 staff are based at New Ross, with a further six staff at the Staffords depot in Rathnew, County Wicklow and five sales staff on the road.
The new facility covers 20,000 square feet and took just under a year to complete.
Staffords Fuels Managing Director Andy Maher said: ‘A local firm, Hennessy Plant Hire, handled all the civil and building works, very competently I might add. The mechanical work was carried out by Queally Engineering of Dungarvan and the extensive Electrical and Control Panel work was done by another local firm, Millenium Electrical. So it was very much a local project and we are very happy with the high quality work carried out by all these local contractors.’
The business has in excess of 1,000 customers.
‘The coal trade and the solid fuel trade, in general, is a long established business. Traditional coal itself has not changed much in 70 or 80 years with the biggest single development being the ban on traditional (bituminous) coal in Dublin in 1990 and the subsequent roll out so that the smokeless ban now covers all towns with more than 15,000 people including towns in the South- East like Wexford, Kilkenny and Waterford. One other significant change has been the growth of smaller convenience bags i.e. 20 Kg and 10 Kg bags which are much easier to handle. We see this trend continuing. The third significant trend, especially since 2000, has been the growth in solid fuel stoves.’
The company - which is one of the leading suppliers of environmentally-friendly domestic fuels offering of high-quality solid fuels to Irish customers - is readying itself for the future as there are current plans being discussed to extend the smokeless ban to the entire country.
The new €3 million facility will initially produce tens of thousands of tonnes of smokeless fuels each year and has the capacity to double this output to over 100,000 tonnes each year. This high specification plant will produce smokeless ovoids, a high heat smokeless fuel, and will use new manufacturing technology to also develop environmentally friendly fuel containing biomass.
‘In the first two years production expectations are 15,000 to 20,000 tonnes. If the current regulatory regime remains unchanged this could expand to 25,000 to 30,000 tonnes. If the Government extends the smokeless ban to the entire country, demand for smokeless products would treble. With Smokeless Fuel being the only coal product legally sold in Ireland we would see production going quickly to 60,000 to 80,000 tonnes and developing from there.’
Mr Maher said: ‘Smokeless solid fuel tends to evolve with each new generation of fuels building on what has gone before. The new product, Superglow Xtra, was developed on site over the past six months in conjunction with a smokeless fuel consultant from the UK who has over 40 years’ experience in the area of smokeless fuel going back to the days of the nationalised British Coal Company. When developing Superglow Xtra we carried out extensive tests on a test fire where products are tested in identical conditions with heat thermocouples arranged around the fire to measure radiated heat. In tests against similar competitor products, Superglow Xtra came out ahead, especially in terms of heat output and burn out (i.e. minimal fuel left unburned on the grate).’
He said: ‘For years consumers have complained that smokeless fuels did not match traditional coal in heat output, flame and general fire ambience. Consumers now have a choice of a smokeless fuel, Stafford’s Superglow Xtra, that performs at a similar heat level as traditional coal, last significantly longer making it better value, with a good flame and general ambience similar to traditional coal. It carries the additional benefit of having only 25 per cent of the emissions of traditional coal leading to cleaner air. Consumers can make the change now.’
The company are currently advanced in developing a mixed fossil fuel and Biomass smokeless fuel.
‘We would hope to have this ready for the market before Christmas. The initial target is to incorporate 30 per cent renewable biomass into a smokeless solid fuel. This would give a reduction of 30 per cent in net greenhouse gas emissions from the solid fuel. In time we would hope to increase the renewable biomass element to 50 per cent or more. In the medium term we will consolidate our new plant over the next two years, but we will continue to look for other additional business opportunities for our New Ross facility.’
The company has 350 to 400 active suppliers.
‘Current supply lines for coal and solid fuel products go back to the sixties and seventies. We are always updating our supply chain and looking for new or innovative products in the solid fuel space.’
Coal and smokeless coal is sourced from a very diverse range of areas. ‘We source product from UK, Poland, Germany, Colombia, Russia and South-East Asia.’
All the company’s transport is outsourced to about ten haulage firms and courier networks.
‘Over any one year up to 30 trucks would be substantially engaged on delivering Stafford products with many more occasionally engaged.’
Mr Maher said: ‘This is a significant investment by Stafford Fuels and demonstrates our commitment to operating in the South East for the long-term. This new investment marks another important step towards a sustainable future for Stafford Fuels which has been operating in the South East for over 125 years.’
Stafford Fuels Ltd is part of the Stafford Group, a privately owned Irish Group of Companies which also comprises Lifestyle Sports and Campus Oil and has a total employment of around 850 people.
The Stafford Group originated from the business of JJ Stafford, a native of Wexford, who operated shipping and fuels businesses in the South East in the late 19th century. The company has strong local connections from generations of business operations and providing employment in counties including Wexford, Kilkenny and Waterford.