LNG

The evolution of autonomous vessels and the need for improved liquid natural gas (LNG) transport and delivery are shaping the future of European logistics—and opening new doors for cooperation between the EU and the United States. Stakeholders on both sides of the Atlantic say that it’s time for more collaboration, not confrontation.

Clean Energy Fuels Corp inked a multi-year bulk fueling agreement in which it will supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to two Texas-based private stations owned by transportation and logistics giant UPS in Mesquite and Houston and also will open three of its America’s Natural Gas Highway stations in Amarillo, Mesquite, and San Antonio, Texas to support the UPS over-the-road fleet. And it also said that Clean Energy in a separate agreement with UPS will open three of its America�...

Class I railroad carrier CSX and GE Transportation heralded a partnership that will focus on exploring emissions-cutting and efficiency advancements through the use of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) technology for locomotives.

In another sign of the emerging—and potential—role of natural gas in freight transportation, , Clean Energy Fuels Corp., the largest provider of natural gas fuel for transportation in North America, said late last month that it aims to build a Jacksonville, Fla.-based liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal.

Natural gas utilization continues to be a major action item for transportation and logistics bellwether UPS, with the company announcing this week that it will invest roughly $50 million to build another nine liquefied natural gas (LNG) fueling stations.

UPS intends to buy an additional 285 natural-gas powered trucks in 2014, which will cover every new heavy-duty vehicle purchased for its small-package delivery business, according to a Bloomberg News report.

Washington is pushing a tax break that might make liquefied natural gas (LNG) economically competitive with diesel fuel, although a skeptical trucking industry is still taking a wait-and-see approach on the clean, domestically produced fuel.

On top of announcements heralding its first quarter earnings and its brokered deal with union membership last week, transportation and parcel bellwether UPS made inroads on other fronts, too, including its planned acquisition of CEMELOG, Zrt., a pharmaceutical logistics company based in Hungary, and rolling out its plan to purchase roughly 700 liquefied natural gas (LNG) vehicles and build four refueling stations by the end of next year.

Company officials said that the pre-production engine used in these tractors is expected to be released in 2013.

While United States-based natural gas production continues to flourish, with domestic production expected to increase 41 percent by 2020 and current prices at a ten-year low, transportation carriers remain slow to embrace natural gas for various reasons despite its myriad benefits, according to data from PLS Logistics Services, a Pittsburgh-based non-asset 3PL focused on the industrial sector.