MANILA, Philippines - Delivering products to customers on time and in good condition is an important requirement for almost all kinds of businesses. But for a transport company, ensuring that goods are delivered on schedule and in perfect condition is not only an important consideration; it is its raison d’etre, the primary factor that determines whether the business will succeed or fail.

This is particularly true for Stellar Cargo Services Inc. (SCSI), a nine-year old trucking company that transports perishable goods – fruits, vegetables and, over the last few years, pastries for Starbucks outlets. And this is why this rapidly growing firm is very thankful for the continuing improvements the Manila North Tollways Corp. (MNTC) is doing in the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX), including its recent integration with the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX).

In October 1997 SCSI started their transporting business with 18 trucks and 40 employees. Their trucking operation reach different parts of Northern and Central Luzon, among these places are Dau, Pampanga, Bulacan, Clark (Subic) and Baguio. Their business has more than doubled – they now have 100 employees and 54 trucks.

Lynn Payumo, SCSI vice president says, “not only do we need to meet the cut-off time for delivering the goods to our clients every time, we also have to ensure that the products arrive safely, in the best condition and highest quality, otherwise our delivery is rejected and we end up incurring huge losses.”

She recalls that when the company was just starting, they encountered a lot of difficulties in making deliveries to their customers in the provinces north of Metro Manila.

“Our trucks really had a hard time going to those places,” she says. “They had to go through the long queues in the toll plazas and then negotiate the narrow, cracked and pot-holed pavements of the old North Diversion Road. As a result, the fruits and vegetables we were delivering were rejected by customers a number of times.”

But things began to improve dramatically when the NLEX replaced the old North Diversion Road, and with the several improvements MNTC made along the NLEX.

“Wider and smoothly paved from end to end, NLEX certainly made traveling to and from Central and Northern Luzon easier and faster,” Lynn notes. “Sure, the toll rates were raised, but the improvement in travel time more than made up for the increase.”

According to one SCSI driver, a long-time employee of the company, travel from Balintawak to Dau used to take two hours. But today, it just takes an hour, “even if we strictly follow the speed limit imposed by MNTC,” he says grinning.

The integration of NLEX with SCTEX has made deliveries to Clark and even to Subic a lot quicker, Abby Payumo, SCSI vice president for operations, points out. “Before the integration, our trucks could only make one or two deliveries to our customers in these places,” she says. “Now, it is possible to make a third delivery.”

The integration, according to the SCSI driver, has not only reduced the number of toll booths motorists have to transact with, it also has speeded up the toll collection itself. “Queues of about 200 meters long were common before,” he says. “But today, you seldom see more than seven trucks queuing at the toll booths.”

The driver also mentioned the ongoing road expansion project MNTC is undertaking between Sta. Rita and Dau, saying that putting additional lanes in this part of the expressway will further ease traffic. “The project is very timely since Christmas is just a few months away,” he adds.

Lynn admits that the integration of NLEX with SCTEX has significantly contributed to the growth of their business. “When we started in 1997, we had 18 trucks and 40 employees,” she says. “Today, we have 54 trucks and 100 employees.”

SCSI also has more customers today. Abby cites Starbucks as an example. “We deliver bananas and pastries to seven Starbucks outlets located in gasoline stations throughout the length of the expressway,” she says. “Our trucks leave the Starbucks warehouse in Pasay at 7 in the morning, and by 11, the cut-off time for deliveries, we’re all done.”

But SCSI is definitely far from being done. With infrastructure developments in the north, it will certainly do more, expand its market reach farther and become a bigger and better transport company in the years to come.