Time for applause

As we end the year, it’s fitting that we applaud the 40 SmartWay Partners that were awarded this year’s Excellence Awards, fewer than 1% of SmartWay partners. All of these organizations are top performers in reducing freight transportation emissions through technological innovation and are demonstrating that it is possible to move more goods more miles with lower emissions, less energy and at a lower cost.

Gina McCarthy, assistant administrator of EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation, said, “Recipients of this year’s SmartWay Excellence Awards are reaping the business benefits and environmental rewards of cutting petroleum use in their transportation operations.”

While all of these partners deserve the nation’s applause and appreciation, there are several fleets that deserve special recognition because of the size of their operations and the number of times they have achieved Excellence Awards.

Ruan utilizes a variety of environmentally friendly strategies, including idle reduction and APU usage, low viscosity lubricants, reduced highway speeds, lightweight equipment, paperless technologies and processes, and driver training designed with an emphasis on maintenance and fuel consumption. The company continually investigates new, sustainable fuel options like biodiesel and compressed natural gas.

Ruan currently operates one of the largest CNG fleets in the country hauling dairy products in Indiana. The use of CNG at this operation will eliminate the need of as many as 1.8 million gallons of diesel fuel each year.

Schneider National earned the prestigious award by exceeding the fuel reduction and environmental performance goals the company is working toward.

“Schneider’s investment in green technologies and processes goes back more than 30 years and is driven by a triple-bottom-line focus,” said Steve Matheys, executive vice president and chief administrative officer at Schneider National. “We know it’s important to balance environmental considerations like protecting our natural resources against social responsibilities to enhance the standard of living worldwide and financial obligations to provide the safest, most cost-effective way to move goods.”

C.R. England saved 49,023,390 gallons of fuel and reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 544,160 tons by implementing fuel saving strategies such as reducing maximum speed and idle time on all trucks, utilizing technology to reduce deadhead and out of route miles, and adding aerodynamic equipment to the trucks and trailers.

“SmartWay has been a valuable and important resource for us. Through this partnership, we have realized our goal of improving the environment through decreasing fuel consumption, improving efficiency and saving money," said Mitch England, director of fuel.

This was the first year SmartWay recognized partners’ environmental performance based on the results of its new quantification and reporting tools. This enhanced methodology helps to inform the industry and marketplace on freight operations’ energy and environmental efficiency, as well as its supply chain carbon and emissions performance.

The data also provides the EPA an opportunity to look closely at SmartWay partners’ carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide and particulate matter emissions performance and identify and rank the top performers in each partner category.

This Year’s Excellence Award recipients are:

Truck Carriers
Air Ground Xpress Inc.
C.R. England Inc.
Celadon Trucking Services Inc.
Dart Transit Co.
Dibble Trucking Inc.
Doug Andrus Distributing LLC
Duncan and Son Lines Inc.
Dupre’ Logistics LLC
FedEx Ground Package System Inc.
Frito-Lay
Heartland Express Inc. of Iowa
JBS Carriers Inc.
Jules Savard Inc.
Knight Transportation Inc.
Lake Enterprises Ltd.
Lone Star Transportation LLC.
May Trucking Co.
Mesilla Valley Transportation
New Century Transportation Inc.
Orlicks Inc.
Pacific 9 Transportation Inc.
Palletized Trucking Inc.
Poland Spring Bottling
Polaris Transport Carriers Inc.
Prime Inc.
Ruan Transportation Management Systems
Southern Refrigerated Transport Inc.
Swift Transportation
Walgreen OshKosh Inc.

Multimodal Carriers
J.B. Hunt Transport Inc.
Schneider National Inc.
White Arrow LLC

Shippers & Logistics Companies
Best Buy Co.
HP
Lowe’s Companies Inc.
IKEA Distribution Services NA
SC Johnson and Son Inc.
Sears Logistics Services Inc.
Foremost Farms USA
Sharp Freight Systems Inc.

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