SmartWay Initiative To Reduce Diesel Emissions At Ports

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Coalition for Responsible Transportation and the Environmental Defense Fund have launched a new initiative to reduced emissions from thousands of short-haul trucks that service the nation’s ports. The new EPA SmartWay initiative will reduce diesel emissions from dray trucks, large diesel trucks that are widely used in port facilities to haul freight from cargo ships to nearby local distribution points.

Under the SmartWay dray truck initiative, carriers sign an agreement with EPA to track and reduce PM 2.5 emissions by 50% and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions by 25% below the industry average over a three year period. In addition, SmartWay dray shipper partners will commit to use the cleaner trucks to haul 75% or more of port freight. Charter shipper partners in the program include Best Buy, The Home Depot, Hewlett Packard, JC Penney, Lowe's, Nike, Target, and Walmart.

Under the agreement and through the incentives, EPA and its SmartWay partners expect to build on the SmartWay program’s success in cutting fuel costs, reducing diesel emissions, preserving jobs, and protecting air quality. Since 2004, SmartWay partners including many of the country’s top retailers, trucking and rail companies and manufacturers have reduced fuel use, cut foreign oil imports by 50 million barrels and saved an estimated $6.1 billion in fuel costs.

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