Transportation

Bison – Fuel Management

Challenge

With 1050 tractors and 3000 trailers on the road, Bison Transport is one of the largest truckload carriers in Canada today. Bison is extremely mindful of the environmental impacts it makes and believes its corporate responsibility is to do its part for the environment.

Freight operations inevitably put a strain on the environment with carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide being released into the air with every mile traveled. Carbon dioxide is the most common Greenhouse Gas (GHGs) and nitrogen oxide is an air pollutant that contributes to smog. Bison consistently looks for innovative ways to reduce its impact on the atmosphere with a desire to deliver environmentally conscious transportation solutions.

Not only is it important to Bison to reduce fuel emissions, Bison is determined to provide a healthy workplace for its employees to work and thrive.

Today our customers have also come to expect green practices and ask us what steps we have taken to reduce our impact, and promote sustainability.

Strategy

Bison’s Sustainable Transportation Strategy includes developing a comprehensive Fuel Management Program. Our program includes making smarter, greener purchases, training drivers in fuel efficiency, and reducing idling and fuel use throughout our entire fleet. It is important to Bison that “we do what is right” in our everyday practices.

In addition to creating a Sustainable Transportation Strategy, Bison also established an Eco-Wellness committee to ensure that environmental and wellness considerations were part of our business plans and decision making processes.

To fulfill Bison’s goal of increased fuel efficiency and reduced emissions, Bison instilled a number of practices, including:

Outlining requirements for new tractor and trailer purchases. Our equipment uses low rolling resistance tires lowering fuel consumption by 1.5-4.5%, lightweight trailer skirting reducing wind resistance and GHG by 4-7%, fuel efficient transmissions and engines, trailer gap fairings, aerodynamic truck profile, in-cab computers that provide real-time data on fuel economy and driving habits, and governing our fleet wide speed at 62 mph.
Bison partnered with Feric, a division of FP Innovations, on their Energotest/Project involving conducting a series of fuel consumption and equipment tests in a contained environment (test track).
The Government of Canada also awarded Bison a grant of $500,000 towards a large scale, fleet-wide demonstration of the effectiveness of aerodynamic trailer fairings.
Expanding our Intermodal division, instituting strict anti-idling policies, and increasing the number of Long Combination Vehicles (LCV’s) – tractors pulling two 53’ trailers – in order to cut carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions.
Equipping both new and existing trucks with auxiliary power units (APUs) that help keep idle time to a minimum. Bison set a target of less than 5% idle time for all tractors with an APU, since drivers can use them to power heaters and air conditioners in all weather conditions. Tractor engines consume over 4 litres per hour when idling as opposed to an APU which consumes only 0.8 litres per hour.
Requiring every driver to take our skills development program, called Tatonka, including a fuel economy course. We use state-of-the-art simulation technology (Mark III full motion simulator) and computer based training to ensure our Drivers are the most fuel efficient Drivers on the road.
In our offices we incorporated a recycling program into our daily routines, as well as a compost bin in our lunchrooms. We also encourage our employees to strive for a paper-free environment as much as possible, and have incorporated paperless billing with our customers and suppliers.

Bison Transport is an active member of Natural Resources Canada’s FleetSmart program and the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s SmartWay Transport Partnership. Both programs have goals and mandates that are closely aligned with Bison Transport’s. By joining both FleetSmart and SmartWay Transport Partnership, Bison Transport demonstrates its strong environmental leadership and corporate responsibility.

Result

With Bison putting all these practices into play, Bison’s green initiatives have made a significant difference in our environmental impact.

At Bison we have learned that our Long Combination Vehicles (LCVs) offer one of the most environmentally conscious means of moving freight. In fact, utilizing LCVs reduces the amount of fuel consumed by 482 litres and the amount of GHGs emitted into the atmosphere by 1311 kilograms for every 1000 miles traveled.

With a strategic focus on efficiency and sustainability, Bison leads the industry in the use of Long Combination Vehicles (LCV’s). Also called Turnpike Doubles, Bison’s LCV Division has grown significantly in Western Canada where they have become the transportation mode of choice for shippers moving freight in/through the Prairie Provinces. Savings in fuel and driver wages are two of the biggest advantages of the LCV model. We consider our LCVs the Greenest Truck on the Road.

Bison Transport recently unveiled a GHG calculator on its web-site that estimates total carbon emissions of single trailer and LCV transport operations for a given length of haul. The calculator is located athttp://www.bisontransport.com/environment.

Bison’s Long Combination Vehicles (LCVs) combine technology, efficiency and reduce GHG emissions by 40%.

Bison is winning awards for its green initiatives:

* Natural Resources Canada’s Energy Efficiency Award – won for our cutting-edge fuel management skills development program.
* U.S. EPA SmartWay Transport’s Environmental Excellence Award

Through our LCV Division, aerodynamic equipment, idle reduction technologies, recycling programs, efficient routing practices and equipment, Bison provides environmentally conscious freight transportation services. We have invested large amounts of time and energy to become an industry leader when it comes to reducing our overall impact onto the environment we live and work in.