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Nat Gas Has Great Promise for Trucking, Summit Told
Source: ttnews.com/articles/petemplate.aspx?storyid=30774
By Transport Topics Staff
This story appears in the Dec. 10 print edition of Transport Topics.
ARLINGTON, Va. — Natural gas has tremendous potential as a trucking industry fuel, but its era for over-the-road freight hauling is just beginning, according to industry experts who addressed the Natural Gas in Trucking Summit here Nov. 29 and 30.
While a number of fleets have been experimenting with natural gas-powered trucks, appropriate equipment is only now getting close to market and fuel distributors are currently creating a national network of filling stations, the speakers said.
There are not enough equipment choices yet, and it all costs too much, speakers said, and servicing the new trucks requires extensive and expensive changes to maintenance shops, they added.
The summit, sponsored by American Trucking Associations and presented by Transport Topics, attracted some 550 industry officials to a hotel in the Washington, D.C., area.
At the summit, ATA President Bill Graves said, “Natural gas has great potential to reduce our reliance on foreign oil and create more jobs because of domestic production. Natural gas is the most viable bridge we have to the future, although we also know it will not work for everyone.”
Jerry Moyes, chairman and CEO of truckload carrier Swift Transportation Corp., said he decided to turn his company into a “guinea pig” to test natural gas and has found the process “fun,” to a degree... Continue reading - Log-in Required.