ATA rolls out new sustainability program

"Trucks Deliver a Cleaner Tomorrow" initiative to focus on reducing fuel consumption and reducing CO2 emissions

Jeff Berman, Group News Editor -- Logistics Management, 5/13/2008

WASHINGTON—With an eye on the environment and a more sustainable future, the American Trucking Associations recently announced several initiatives that it said will help to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, as well as help to thwart global climate change.

Dubbed “Trucks Deliver a Cleaner Tomorrow,” ATA President and CEO Bill Graves said in a statement that this endeavor can reduce fuel consumption by 86 million gallons and CO2 emissions by 900 million tons for all vehicles over the next ten years.

And a report drafted by the ATA Sustainability Task Force, which is led by Tommy Hodges, ATA Vice Chairman and Chairman of Titan Transfer Inc. presented the following as six of the core recommendations of “Trucks Deliver a Cleaner Tomorrow”: set governors on new trucks to limit speeds to no more than 68 mph and reduce the national speed limit to 65 mph for all vehicles; reduce engine idling; increase fuel efficiency by encouraging participation in the U.S. EPA SmartWay Transport Partnership Program; reduce congestion by improving highways, if necessary by raising the fuels tax; use more productive truck combinations; and support national fuel economy standards for trucks.

ATA Vice President of Public Affairs and Press Secretary Clayton Boyce told LM in an interview that there were various factors that drove the need for “Trucks Deliver a Cleaner Tomorrow.”

“This is not specifically a fuel costs issue,” said Boyce. “We started this back when diesel was $2.55 per gallon [in February 2007], and we started it because of concern for the environment and carbon output. Many companies are facing these issues.”

Boyce said that a conversation among the ATA’s Graves, YRC Worldwide CEO Bill Zollars, and Wal-Mart President and CEO H. Lee Scott, Jr. got the wheels turning on this initiative, and it led to the ATA to become more committed on the environmental front. Graves said last week that this correspondence resulted in the birth of the ATA's 24-member Sustainability Task Force, which spent a year putting together a report focused on the six core recommendations listed above.  

Boyce did note that the ATA had already been very active in emissions-reducing practices over the years, and the organization received an award from the EPA's SmartWay Transportation Partnership last year for promoting SmartWay and getting several ATA members involved in the program.The SmartWay Transport Partnership is a voluntary collaboration between the EPA and the freight industry, which is designed to increase energy efficiency while significantly reducing greenhouse gases and air pollution, according to its Web site.  

One of the biggest potential long-term benefits of “Trucks Deliver a Cleaner Tomorrow” —and taking a “greener” approach—for both shippers and carriers, according to Boyce, is costs savings.

“If we are burning less diesel, then there is less costs for trucking companies and that translates to lower rates for shippers,” said Boyce. “Society’s benefit is cleaner air and less CO2 being emitted, with less effect on the environment and global warming.”

In regards to global warming, though, Boyce cautioned that there is still a fair amount of controversy regarding that concept and whether or not it is being caused by man-made sources. But he said that regardless of the global warming theories, there are still myriad benefits to the approach ATA is taking.

Carriers taking action: Two large trucking companies have taken proactive steps recently to reduce fuel consumption and reduce CO2 emissions. In March, Con-way said its LTL subsidiary Con-way Freight turned back the speed governors on its 8,400-tractor fleet from 65 to 62 miles per hour. And last week it announced that Con-way Truckload has turned back speed governors on its 2,700-tractor fleet from 70 to 65 miles per hour. Meanwhile, Schneider National said last week its fleet of more than 10,600 drivers will reduce truck speed to 60 mph, resulting in a savings of more than 3.75 million gallons of diesel fuel and reducing CO2 emissions by 83.25 million pounds, annually.

Going forward, Boyce said the ATA sustainability task force will be collaborating on future efforts that will be possibility rolled out later this year. Earlier this year, the ATA sent a letter to President George W. Bush, asking the White House to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in an effort to curtail the ongoing, historical run-up in crude oil prices that are hampering various sectors of the U.S. economy and the trucking industry. The ATA also called on the Federal Government in March, with a number of initiatives geared toward lowering fuel prices.