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Schneider, a truckload, logistics, and intermodal services provider headquartered in Green Bay, is investing in alternative fuels. Schneider is testing the use of natural gas for heavy-duty trucks, introducing LNG trucks into their fleet in 2011. Early adoption of this technology is taking place within specific, shorter-haul work configurations. Schneider is also testing biodiesel fuel blends for various attributes such as engine wear, fuel economy, and winter operability—and participating in the American Trucking Association sub-group that is reviewing regulations, production, standards, and use of biodiesel.
The EPA’s SmartWay Transport Partnership (a voluntary collaboration between the EPA and the freight industry to increase energy efficiency while striving to reduce greenhouse gases and air pollution) recognizes Schneider’s enterprise-wide commitment to the environment. Schneider was a charter member of the program in 2003. All three of Schneider’s business sectors (trucking, logistics, and intermodal transport services) are SmartWay Transport members.
As the largest truckload carrier in the US, Schneider employs 15,000 drivers who travel some 1.4 billion miles a year. The fleet is equipped with aerodynamic tractors and trailers; uses speed management strategies, such as limiting speed to a maximum of 65 mph; and engines have a two-minute idling limitation. These measures improve efficiency and add up to savings in the millions of both gallons of fuel and dollars. Engineers at Schneider are also developing two innovative games to help employees and clients better understand how transportation networks function and how human decision-making—focused on optimizing energy savings—can create efficient logistics.
