Motor Carriers Sign On to Clean Truck Program
The Port of Los Angeles on Aug. 21 reported that Swift Transportation, Inc. and Knight Transportation, Inc., two major national motor carriers, will support the Clean Truck Program as drayage concessionaires. The two Phoenix-based trucking companies are expected to collectively deploy up to 2,000 new liquefied natural gas (LNG) and diesel trucks for Port Service that are compliant with 2007 EPA diesel emission standards.
Swift Transportation's Vice President David Berry, said, "Swift Transportation is a leader in the trucking industry for sustainable green trucking. We support the clean air goals of the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and recognize our responsibility to contribute to the effort. We are committed to using LNG trucks, the cleanest trucks available, as part of our strategy to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gases. We are working out the operational details of our program, but we intend to include LNG trucks as an integral part of our clean air solution."
Total Transportation Services, Inc. (TTSI), a drayage, warehouse, and transportation company in Rancho Dominguez, Calif., currently is operating eight Kenworth T800 LNG trucks in full-time drayage service at the ports under the major Clean Trucks Program.
Company President Vic La Rosa said that TTSI will take delivery of 30 more trucks later this summer and plans to eventually replace half of its 300-truck fleet with the alternative fuel trucks.
The Kenworth T800s are equipped with the LNG fuel system developed by Westport Innovations Inc. of Vancouver, B.C., and installed on the Cummins ISX 15-liter engine. The Kenworth trucks have Westport's High Pressure Direct Injection (HPDI) technology and use 5 percent diesel and 95 percent natural gas to power the drivetrain. Running on clean, low-carbon LNG fuel, TTSI will realize greenhouse gas emission reductions of approximately 20 percent and nitrogen oxide emissions reductions of more than 75 percent compared to the diesel vehicles being replaced, according to Westport Innovations.