Green Logistics: Menlo ups usage of EPA SmartWay-approved carriers
Jeff Berman, Senior Editor -- Logistics Management, 4/4/2008
SAN MATEO,
The EPA’s SmartWay Transport Partnership is a collaboration between the EPA and the freight industry designed to increase energy efficiency, while significantly reducing greenhouse gases and air pollution. Menlo’s corporate sibling, Con-way Freight, joined SmartWay in July 2006, and Menlo joined six months ago. And the company said that since then it has “stepped up spending” with carriers that are also supporting and promoting greater energy efficiency by using practices and equipment recommended through the SmartWay program.
Menlo Director of Operations C. Thomas Barnes told LM there were various reasons that went into making this decision.
Menlo spends more than $1 billion on transportation every year,” said Barnes. “We wanted to leverage that spend to [motivate] our carrier partners to make carbon emissions reduction a priority. Carriers who are focused on sustainability and fuel efficiency are a good fit for Menlo because those efforts complement Menlo's Lean practices.”
These “Lean” practices focus on eliminating waste wherever it exists, according to Menlo, and a company statement explained that encouraging the highest level of efficiency in the freight transportation industry is critical to meeting Con-way’s enterprise-wide commitment to sustainable—or green—business practices.
And with that $1 billion committed to transportation spend, more than 80 percent of that figure is going towards SmartWay-approved carriers. Barnes noted that more than 150 of Menlo’s carriers.
Barnes also pointed out that this initiative will result in different benefits for Menlo’s customers i.e. shippers.
“[Shippers] are looking at the downstream implications of moving their freight and want assurances that efforts to implement sustainable practices are being undertaken,” he said. “The EPA's SmartWay Program offers a clear path for carrier compliance and commitments to carbon emissions reductions ultimately are helping our customers reduce their carbon footprint as well.”
Menlo said its SmartWay initiative is made up of various steps geared towards educating and promoting green initiatives among its contract carriers. These steps include:
- making SmartWay compliance a preferred factor when considering new carriers;
- encouraging existing carriers to join SmartWay during Menlo's annual carrier review process;
- considering moving over-the-road truckload shipments to an intermodal service;
- reducing paper consumption in carrier communications by encouraging electronic exchanges; and
- implementing a "no-idling” policy at Menlo distribution centers.
Menlo said it expects to have implemented all of its proposed SmartWay strategies by the end of this year, and it also said that the company’s commitment to SmartWay will continue to drive year-over-year improvements toward full carrier compliance with the program's principles.
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