Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/466315
26 COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | FEBRUARY 2015 V olvo Trucks last month unveiled the official America's Road Team truck and trailer, a Volvo VNL 780 that the 19 new captains of the 2015-16 team will use at events across the country to promote trucking's image and teach the public about the industry. Magnus Koeck, Volvo Trucks' vice president of marketing, handed the keys to Pat Thomas, American Trucking Associations' vice chairman, during a ceremony at Volvo's New River Valley plant in Dublin, Va. "The Road Team Captains truly are the face of the industry," Thomas said. "They're going to do great things for trucking. Most folks don't know a lot about trucking – the challenges we face with infrastructure and regulatory hurdles. These drivers and this truck will help the public and public officials understand the industry a little better." In addition to the star-spangled graphics on the truck and trailer, the VNL 780 is equipped with the latest safety and fuel efficiency technology. It employs Volvo's integrated powertrain – centered around the company's I-Shift automated manual transmission – and the Bendix Wingman system that offers adap- tive cruise control, rollover stability and active braking. The trailer behind the truck, used by the Road Team Captains at the events they attend, is a walk-in with seven televisions and a truck driving simulator. The truck and trailer also will be used to take law- makers for ride-alongs. "We want to improve the image of the industry," said Susan Alt, Volvo's senior vice president of public affairs. "There's no better way [to do that] than with actual drivers who do the job." – James Jaillet S addle Creek Logistics made headlines at the height of the fuel price increases by showing the nation that natural gas was a winner in regional and long-haul trucking applications. Today, with diesel trending nationally below $3 a gallon, did the Lakeland, Fla.-based fleet miscalculate with such an aggres- sive move into alternative fuels? Not at all, said company presi- dent, Mike DelBovo, in an exclusive CCJ interview. "We've had people ask us if we feel silly now that fuel prices are down, and we don't," DelBovo said. "We went into alternative fuels as a long-term project. From the outset, we've been look- ing 10 years down the road. We're a private company, so we can take the long view." While the onset of cheaper diesel has helped fleets across the country, DelBovo said the main impact on Saddle Creek has been to extend the fleet's alternative-fuel return-on-investment picture. "We obviously do better in terms of ROI when diesel fuel is higher," he said. "But on the other hand, we are not exclu- sively a natural gas fleet. We're about half diesel power and half natural gas power, so it's really a mixed bag for us. But we remain committed to our natural gas project. These low fuel prices just force us to stretch our strategy out a bit more over that long run." DelBovo said that while natural gas prices have fallen in correlation to gasoline and diesel prices, Saddle Creek's overall fixed costs have remained constant. "The lower fuel prices really haven't affected us much on the natural gas side of the busi- ness," he said. "But our customer support for alternative fuels has remained constant, and that support is key to our long-term goals. They made it clear this is the path they want us to follow, and federal tax credits last year helped a great deal." At the same time, DelBovo said that while the current cheap fuel situation is nice, it also is unsustainable, and Saddle Creek will be well positioned once prices start to climb again. "Every projection available today points to wild fluctuations and consis- tently higher fuel prices," he said. " At the same time, the natural gas technology side of the equation is starting to trend in our favor. Economies of scale are starting to kick in. The cost of new natural gas trucks in 2015 will be cheaper than earlier models, and improvements to their fuel systems have made them more efficient to operate. So it's a whole new world compared to where we started with natural gas back in 2012. The trucks run and perform so much better today." Naysayers aside, DelBovo is convinced Saddle Creek's move into natural gas has been a winner for the fleet. "We're going to stay the course, and we know we'll be ahead of the game when fuel prices do rise again," he said. "We're retaining drivers and controlling costs better than ever before. Natural gas has made us a better company on both the diesel and alternative fuel side of the equation." – Jack Roberts Volvo donates truck to ATA image advocacy team Saddle Creek stays the course on natural gas strategy The Volvo VNL 780 used by ATA's Ameri- ca's Road Team is equipped with the lat- est safety and fuel efficiency technology.