While all types of vocational fleets are impacted by the price of oil and the fortunes of the oil and gas industries, Ziron Environmental Services often feels those effects in other ways. “When oil prices rise and fall,” Brian Ziron, president and CEO, explains, “it puts pressure on everyone to control costs, and in our case as both a provider of services and as a user of fuel.”
Founded by Brian Ziron in 1989, Chicago-based Ziron Environmental Services has grown from a vapor recovery operation providing service at gas stations to an environmental clean-up company that never rests.
“We’ve become a very broad environmental cleaning services provider but at the same time very specialized, and have equipment and trained crew members to handle virtually any spill emergency that comes our way,” Ziron states. “Customers know we’re reliable and responsive, and in environmental clean-up those are the two main attributes that lead to success.”
Equally important to Ziron is its highly specialized fleet of 15 tractors that haul 6,000-gal. vacuum tanker trailers and nine Class 7 and 8 straight trucks equipped with 3,000-gal. vacuum tankers. “With a need for specialized equipment,” Ziron relates, “we can’t use off-the-shelf vehicles, so we never thought full-service leasing could play a part in our operation. About six years ago, however, we began working with PacLease to provide custom trucks that matched our requirements.”
According to Ziron, PacLease worked with the company to spec equipment with PTOs, wet kits to operate vacuums, and custom fifth wheel heights to accommodate specialized trailers.
“Leasing helps ensure uptime,” Ziron explains. “Vehicle reliability is one of the most important and critical elements in our business. We need our equipment ready to go, and we can’t have trucks that aren’t reliable. When customers call with an emergency, we need to be there.
“Today, PacLease handles all of our maintenance and even comes to our facility to provide services,” Ziron says. “That saves us time and frees up our in-house technicians to work on our light-duty vehicles and specialized equipment.”
Ziron also sought trucks that provide driver comfort and reliability in extremely cold weather. As a result, the company’s newest Kenworth T880 units are spec’d with a cold weather package, which includes block, fuel and oil pan heaters. In addition, two of the tractors are equipped with 52-in. sleepers.
“Those rigs often go to North Dakota to provide service to the oil industry and drilling operations,” Ziron says. “Our drivers need to stay with the trucks, and they’ll often work 12-hour shifts so they need a comfortable place to rest. The smaller sleepers give our drivers a bunk and rest area while still giving us the wheelbase and hauling capacity required for our operation.”
For Ziron, it’s all in a day’s work. “We continue to expand but only without sacrificing quality, and we will not risk the safety of our employees or our clients for the sake of making money,” he states.
