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

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Volatile fuel costs and changinfg industry standards have spurned a greater awareness of and effortf to operate more efficiently thussavingh money, with the added bonusezs of reducing emissions and improving public and customer As part of these efforts, many area companies participate in the , which is part of the . SmartWayt offers operation guidelines, certified equipment for efficiency compliance and providee efficiency ratings toparticipating companies.
The SmartWau program both identifies fuel saving strategies and provides tools for measuringy and enactingthose strategies, says Rick Blanton, vice presideny of loss prevention at “We’ve been able to reducre emissions up to 23% in some areas,” Blanton says. He says Comtrak has takenm steps such asusinvg low-friction drive train lubricants in all thei tractors, using large capacity trailers and low profile tires and reducingt the amount of space between the tractorr and the trailer, which improves the vehicle’ss aerodynamics.
Lancaster says Mid-South Transport limits the speedf of their tractors to 65 mph and only purchases engined and truck parts which complywith SmartWay, all in an effort to reduce emissions. Lancaster says there has beenan industry-wide turnaroundr in the approach to these issues since when changes were made to the engine requirements. Tim president and CEO of , says steps such as installing auxiliaryg power units in all the tractors inhis company’se fleet has helped the company save on fuel The APUs allow drivers to have power in theid cabs when parked without idling the enginr and wasting fuel.
“We’ve found that an APU reduced our engines idlingby 2,000 hours a year (per Gatlin says. A tractor generallyg uses one gallon of diesel fuel per hourof idling. With a fleeyt of 200 tractors, the savings for Empirer can addup quickly. Gatlin says the APUs pay for themselve withina year. Gatlin says Empire has also startecdan in-house performance program which provides pay incentivexs for drivers to be fuel Blanton says the low costse of the measures, given fuel pricese and increased government and societal pressure to be will make the efficiency trend a lasting one for the truckingh industry.