California Cartage Co. announced the purchase of 12 additional liquid natural gas-burning yard tractors, bringing their fleet of clean alternative fuel vehicles to 17. In an effort to cut air pollution in the surrounding area, Cal Cartage made the decision to replace the diesel tractors that formerly moved containers around their 90-acre warehouse and distribution facility in Wilmington California with clean vehicles.
The yard tractors are in constant motion on two shifts, positioning containers of cargo at warehouse doors for unloading and then repositioning the empty containers in the yard for return to the ports. Cal Cartage says operation of this fleet of natural gas yard tractors will reduce emissions by 99 tons per year, an overall 98 percent reduction.
The LNG yard trucks are manufactured by Kalmar/Cargotec and are designed to provide greater fuel efficiency and much cleaner emissions. Cal Cartage says putting these new natural gas vehicles into service lowers emissions of NOX by 98 percent, particulate matter by 95 percent and CO by 86 percent, and also reduces GHG by 23 percent when compared to their diesel counterparts.
The San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan was adopted by the Harbor Commissions of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in 2006 to reduce diesel exhaust emissions in the ports and surrounding communities. Cal Cartage was one of the first to adopt LNG vehicles for their drayage.
“We realized as we learned more about the positive impact of clean trucks on the ports that it was also the right thing to do with our offroad trucks – not only for the health of our employees, but also to improve the air quality and health in the neighboring community,” says Bob Curry, Cal Cartage president.
Cal Cartage provides import and export trucking, warehousing, deconsolidation and distribution with a nationwide fleet of nearly 1,000 owner-operators. The company provides drayage, intermodal drayage and consolidation trucking services through its warehouses. Besides Long Beach, the company has operations in the Midwest, East Coast and Mexico.
