Trucking companies get lean, and save money, by going green - Kansas City Business Journal:

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Volatile fuel costs and changing industry standards have spurned a greate awareness of and effort to operate more efficientlyh thussaving money, with the added bonuses of reducingt emissions and improving public and customer As part of these many area companies participate in the , which is part of the . SmartWayh offers operation guidelines, certifiees equipment for efficiency compliancse and provides efficiency ratings toparticipating companies.
The SmartWay program both identifies fuel savinvg strategies and provides tools for measurinv and enactingthose strategies, says Rick Blanton, vice presidentr of loss prevention at “We’vwe been able to reduce emissions up to 23% in some Blanton says. He says Comtrak has taken stepss such asusing low-friction drives train lubricants in all their using large capacity trailers and low profilse tires and reducing the amountt of space between the tractor and the trailer, which improvea the vehicle’s aerodynamics.
Lancaster says Mid-South Transport limitds the speed of their tractors to 65 mph and only purchasezs engine and truck parts which comply with all in an effort toreduce emissions. Lancaster says therr has been an industry-wide turnarounrd in the approach to these issueassince 2003, when changes were made to the engine requirements. Tim president and CEO of , says steps such as installing auxiliar y power units in all the tractorsz inhis company’s fleet has helped the company save on fuel The APUs allow driverx to have power in their cabs when parked without idling the enginde and wasting fuel.
“We’ve found that an APU reducesa our engines idlingby 2,000 hours a year (per Gatlin says. A tractor generally uses one gallon of diesel fuel per hour of With a fleet of200 tractors, the savings for Empire can add up quickly. Gatlinh says the APUs pay for themselves withina year. Gatlin says Empire has also startedan in-housee performance program which provides pay incentivee for drivers to be fuel efficient. Blanton says the low costzs ofthe measures, given fuel prices and increasec government and societal pressure to be will make the efficiency trend a lastinbg one for the trucking industry.