As a young man, Royal Jones drove a lot—specifically race cars and heavy trucks. He learned early on that moving vehicle needs to overcome three factors: wind, rolling resistance and mechanical drag. When you reduce these, you’re able to get a race car to go faster or a truck to get better fuel economy when holding down its road speed.
Jones is now president and CEO of Mesilla Valley Transportation (MVT), a trucking company with its corporate headquarters in Las Cruses, N.M. and its largest terminal in El Paso, Texas. MVT, a SmartWay Partner, is one of the largest locally-owned transportation providers in western Texas and southern New Mexico. It specializes in time-sensitive service between major manufacturing areas in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. And Jones is proud to say that he believes MVT enjoys a higher average corporate fuel mileage and lowest carbon footprint than any fleet in North America. While he asked that we not publish the exact figures, I can assure you that I have never heard better numbers in the many years I’ve been close to the industry. I can tell you that David Glass, the fleet’s recruiting and processing manager, told me, “Our drivers are realizing 7.25 to 10 plus miles per gallon.”
Jones launched the company in 1982 and now has 1,000 tractors and 3,400 trailers on the road. All of the tractors are International ProStars. The fleet runs Michelin X-One wide-base singles in every wheel position on both tractors and trailers, and has been doing so for more than eight years. Every tractor is equipped with an auxiliary power unit to minimize unnecessary idling, and every trailer is fitted with side skirts to decrease air resistance.
Jones says, “Every truck is computer monitored and has a mileage reward system. We get the best mileage you ever heard of. Anything you want to make better, you have to be able to measure. We measure fuel mileage all the time. I’m able to get the data from every tractor or the combined average every day. Every few days, our average fuel economy improves two to three hundredths of a percent.”
Jones is justifiably proud of the trucks he gives his drivers. He says, “We pride ourselves in always being ahead of the rest in new truck innovations. Our ProStar Internationals have every option available for driver comfort, efficiency and most importantly, safety.” The Eaton Vorad system is onboard each of its 2008 ProStars as is the Bendix ESP system, which is an anti-roll and anti-skid device.
MVT uses the PeopleNet system for satellite tracking and driver communication. While this is not particularly unusual, MVT has gone a step further and gets exception reports from the trucks via e-mail, giving management information such as fuel mileage, panic stops and sudden starts. This allows them to view driver issues and counsel drivers who have poor driving habits. The information also allows fleet management to see immediately if a truck is not up to par on fuel mileage.
Jones frankly admits that MVT didn’t jump on board as soon as it had a chance to join the SmartWay Partnership because he knew the company was operating far ahead of the curve and wasn’t anxious to share the advantages it enjoyed. It happened only after some of the fleet’s customers, who were already SmartWay Partners, began encouraging MVT to join the program. This, of course, is part of the commitment that Shipper Partners make when they join the program. In particular, they are asked to ship at least 50% of their goods using SmartWay Transport Carriers.
MVT now enjoys the highest rating SmartWay has to offer its Carrier partners. And Jones enjoys knowing his fleet is the “best of the best.”
