Around one third of all road emissions in Finland originate from trucks. Our freight also travels on trucks and, as part of our objective to eliminate our emissions, we want to get rid of truck-borne emissions.
At the moment, the only quick and effective way of reducing the emissions of heavy traffic is to use biogas as fuel. Liquefied biogas reduces emissions over the lifecycle of the fuel by up to 90 percent.
This is the road we have chosen: The Vantaa freight terminal received the first LBG trucks that run on liquefied biogas this fall. We have purchased 10 LBG trucks this year, and they will be implemented in stages in the fall 2020. The trucks will be used in the line haulage of Freight Services across Finland.
Liquefied gas is commonly used in heavy traffic, but liquefied biogas is still relatively rare. The LBG trucks of our Freight Services will become the largest LBG fleet owned by one operator in Finland.
The gas-powered fleet will comprise a total of 16 vehicles; the new LBG trucks and the LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) vehicles which Posti purchased earlier.
The 10 LBG trucks will reduce the carbon-dioxide emissions by 1,620 tonnes, which is the equivalent of driving approximately 8.6 million kilometers in a passenger car. This corresponds to driving around the world 215 times. LNG, on the other hand, reduces greenhouse gas emissions over the fuel lifecycle by over 20 percent compared to fossil diesel.
“As a pioneer in the field, we play a crucial role in developing and implementing energy-efficient and sustainable transport solutions,” says Antti Wikström, Vice President of Posti’s Freight Services.
“We have developed our operations to reduce the emissions from our freight transports for a long time. In addition to gas-powered vehicles and alternative fuels, our environmental measures include target-oriented route planning, a method that develops quickly thanks to new technologies and procedures. We reduce our environmental impact also by actively monitoring driving habits and updating our service level agreements.”
The new LBG trucks have HCT (High Capacity Transport) accessories. In other words, an LBG truck can be converted into a large 68,000-tonne truck by using dollies and B links. An HCT truck has an approximately 30% higher transport capacity compared to regular combination vehicles. We transport the same amount of goods with three HCT combination vehicles as with four regular combination vehicles. This enables significant reductions in kilometers driven and, consequently, lower emissions.
Economical and environmentally responsible driving can reduce fuel consumption by approximately 10–15 percent. All of the Freight Services vehicles in Finland feature driving style monitoring equipment that lets the driver see the effect their driving style has on fuel consumption and the reduction of emissions.
The use of the new LBG trucks has been designed so that the gas stations are conveniently located along the route or near the terminal.
“Posti leads the way in sustainable transportation by selecting renewable biogas as the fuel for its line haulage,” says Juha-Matti Koskinen, Sales Manager for Traffic at Gasum.
“We are moving from piloting to implementing these proven low-emission fuel solutions at a larger scale. Using biogas in traffic is an effective way to mitigate climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions at all lifecycle stages of the fuel by up to 90 percent. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is also part of our solution for cutting our logistics emissions.”
