Tracey Hourd, during her tenure at Liquip International, held several key positions that strengthened her product and industry knowledge and allowed her to build strong customer relationships. In 2018, after 22 years at the company, she set out to look for new challenges together with Steve Hudson, former Engineering Manager.
“As the daughter of the well-known co-founder of Liquip, Bill Currey, the Australian Dangerous Goods (DG) industry has been a big part of my life since I was a young girl,” she says.
Tracey and Steve have led Liquip NSW, best known as a service provider for fuel handling, dry bulk transport and Liquip distributor, since 2018. Behind the scenes, they were also designing bespoke systems, consulting on complex projects and solving safety challenges present in the DG industry. After decades of engineering, hands-on problem solving and delivering safety solutions, the pair reached a turning point.
“Being seen purely as a service provider was holding us back from supporting the industry the way we really wanted to,” Tracey says. “So, to differentiate, we created FuelSpec Services.”
FuelSpec Services reflects Tracey and Steve’s combined 55 years of industry experience and a shared vision to improve safety, environmental protection and efficiency in fuel transport and storage. The business focuses on innovative product development, system design and engineering consultancy tailored specifically for operators, fleet managers and logistics specialists responsible for transporting and storing hazardous liquids and bulk materials.
“We’ve been in the industry for a long time,” Steve says. “We’re engineering better outcomes for the whole industry.”
FuelSpec Services’ mission is simple but ambitious – to deliver smart, practical future-ready solutions that help bulk liquid operators manage risk, comply with evolving regulations and operate with greater confidence. This mission is already taking shape through the company’s new ‘Smart’ innovation range with the breakthrough Smart Bottom Valve Actuator (SBVA).
The idea for the SBVA came to life while Steve was working with the Australian Standards Committee which identified a concern about foot valves being open in transit. He explains that while the Australian Dangerous Goods (ADG) Code legislated a driver to verify the bottom valve is closed in transit, there was no way for this to be detected.
“You can’t see the bottom valve because it’s located in the belly of the tanker,” he says.
This is where the SBVA comes in. Using a positional sensor and a highly visible indicator on the side of the trailer, it instantly tells the driver whether the bottom valve is open or closed – adding a critical new layer of safety during loading, unloading and transport.
“There may be multiple reasons why a bottom valve doesn’t close as expected, but when we undertook research within the industry and discovered that more than 20 per cent of valves were actually open during transit, I realised we were facing a serious environmental and safety issue,” Steve says. “It’s a low-probability event, but the consequences can be catastrophic. The SBVA gives us a way to stop that before it ever happens.”
FuelSpec Services created a design to detect the valve position. Prototypes were made and refined through testing, and customer trials verified the benefits.
“What surprised us was how the drivers embraced the new product,” Steve says. “Even more so with pump trucks. Drivers tell us it gives them confidence.
“The SBVA has become a powerful diagnostic tool for fleet managers. It’s not just preventing spills, it’s helping them isolate and fix other problems faster. By knowing the bottom valve’s position, they can eliminate that as a potential issue quicker than before.”
After months of development, field testing and refinement, the SBVA was unveiled at the recent National Bulk Tanker Association’s (NBTA) Sydney meeting on 4 March where it attracted immediate attention.
“The design ensures it can be fitted to multiple valve manufacturer’s products as well as retrofitted to existing valves in the market,” Steve says. “In the new world we live in with high turnover of DG drivers, FuelSpec is determined to solve a problem with an engineered solution.”
One of the standout features of the SBVA is its rugged design. Built for harsh Australian conditions, it’s expected to outlast the valve itself. It also fits most of the bottom valve types used in Australia today, making it ideal for both new builds and retrofits. For operators, that means improved safety, simplified compliance with updated AS 5602 and ADG Code requirements and a practical step toward fleet-wide standardisation.
The SBVA is just the first of many technologies FuelSpec Services is preparing to release under its Smart sub-brand of innovations.
“We’ve got more coming, but it all starts with making safety visible,” Tracey says. “The SBVA is about giving drivers, operators and regulators the clarity they need to do their jobs with confidence.”
