Sustainability and the efficient management of resources are top of mind in the logistics sector as operators increasingly look to reduce their environmental footprint and comply with ever-more stringent EU regulations. Joining forces to promote cleaner road mobility across Europe and the benefits of natural gas, sister Companies CNH Industrial and FCA brought over 30 of Europe’s principle logistics and automotive transporters together on November 6 in Ulm, Germany, the heavy trucks center of excellence for CNH Industrial’s commercial vehicles brand IVECO. The day saw presentations from Peter Weiss, Head of EMEA Supply Chain Management & Global Supply Chain Coordination at FCA, Dror Noach, Vice President Global Logistics at CNH Industrial and Pierre Lahutte, IVECO Brand President. 

Natural gas can provide between 20 – 40% savings in fuel costs, up to a 15% reduction in fuel consumption compared to diesel and ensures low noise emissions measured at less than 71 dB on the Piek Quiet Truck Test, an advantage pertaining to circulation in urban areas. Trucks running on LNG improve air quality by significantly reducing CO2 and nitrogen oxide emissions and virtually eliminate Particulate Matter. 

“Supply Chain moves millions of automotive parts, materials and finished vehicles all over the world, this effort calls for rethinking traditional methods and implementing the most effective and efficient ways to achieve our targets,” said Peter Weiss during his address in which he illustrated how FCA is improving transport efficiencies with savings of over 5,000 tons of CO2 per year. The Company’s on-road inbound and outbound operations see 2,500 truck movements per day in Europe between 15 of FCA’s plants to 28 destination countries. “Together with our logistics partners, we adopted Sustainable Logistics Principles, applying all methodologies to reduce the impact of freight and vehicle movement though the optimization of modes and logistics flows, as well as the adoption of low-emission transport vehicles,” he explained, describing how the Company is increasing the use of alternative fuels, being the first to use IVECO Stralis NP 400 trucks in its fleet and also the first to perform international car transport in Europe using non-diesel trucks: “We think that the extended application of this technology will ensure FCA’s network competitiveness and our emission footprint reduction.”

“As part of our logistics transportation strategy we are well on our way in converting our main inbound and outbound distribution lanes to LNG vehicles,” explained Dror Noach while presenting CNH Industrial’s shift from Diesel to LNG throughout its logistics flow perimeter in Europe, consisting of a network of 34 production plants and 10 depots. This strategy aims to achieve an 18% reduction in CO2 kilograms per ton of goods transported within 2022, compared with the levels recorded in 2014. The logistics flows where this has already been implemented in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom have seen savings of over 1,000 tons of CO2 per year. Further implementation in 2018 foresees further savings of around 650 tons of CO2. 

IVECO was the first to acknowledge the potential of natural gas in the commercial transport industry, anticipating the recommendations put forth at the last G20 Energy 2016 summit held in Beijing, China. During that occasion, natural gas was recognized as a low-emitting fossil fuel which plays an important and effective role in the future of energy, one that is characterized by low levels of greenhouse gases. Furthermore, IVECO had the foresight to anticipate “A European Strategy for Low-Emission Mobility,” a package of measures from the European Union published in 2016, which identifies the use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for heavy trucks as strategic move for Europe. 

As global leaders in sustainability and European leaders in natural gas powered vehicles, CNH Industrial and FCA take their collective responsibilities seriously. Their expertise in the area of alternative fuels have seen them sign memorandums with the EU, Japan and Israel to develop natural gas transport.

With sustainability at its core, CNH Industrial continues to invest in technologies that will reduce environmental impact, including through its own logistics processes. Through its brand IVECO, the Company has spearheaded some of the most significant developments in alternative fuels for the long-haul transport sector. The most recent being the introduction of the new Stralis NP 460, the first high performance natural gas truck for heavy long-haul missions, which is being implemented within CNH Industrial’s logistics transportation strategy. This range now includes three new models which are suited for all automotive logistics needs throughout Europe.

FCA continues to invest in eco-efficient fleets running on natural gas in North America and Europe. The Company counts close to 200 of these vehicles in operation, including those belonging to FCA’s i-Fast Automotive Logistics arm in Europe. 

London, November 7, 2017