Doing it green – Express Couriers

By Alan Court

With the increasing focus on ‘green issues’, FTD spoke with Express Couriers’ national manager of transport, Alan Court, and asked how the company manages its fleet and keeps up with the eco-requirements impacting the industry.

Over the coming years, the New Zealand government will gradually introduce more stringent engine regulations for heavy duty trucks. In order to meet these requirements, early in 2008 we organised for one of the Express Couriers transport contractors to start operating a new Volvo Trucks tractor unit that meets Euro 4 emission standards.

This unit was one of the first Volvo trucks in New Zealand with SCR technology (selective catalytic reduction) that attains the Euro 4 standard. The technology involves injecting a urea solution known as ‘AdBlue’ into the engine’s exhaust gas and converting nitrogen oxide in the exhaust to harmless nitrogen and water.

There are huge environmental benefits to be gained by running this new SCR system, and this initiative sets the new benchmark in environmentally friendly transport.

It’s the little things that help

We know that regular servicing and maintenance directly improve the efficiency and productivity of vehicles. To help reduce unnecessary fuel consumption, we’re investing in a range of measures, including the purchase of tyre pressure gauges to be distributed to all CourierPost courier contractors.

Under-inflated tyres are one of the most commonly ignored causes of high fuel consumption. Tyres lose air due to time (about 1 psi per month) and temperature (1 psi for every 10-degree drop) and under-inflated tyres have more rolling resistance, meaning that more petrol is used to keep vehicles moving.

Smarter technology

In November 2007 Express Couriers transport operations introduced Navman GPS vehicle monitoring into the transport owner-driver fleet of trucks, and it’s been a valuable tool in tracking vehicle movement throughout the country. The Navman system has identified areas of transport duplication and has given us a tool to assign the closest vehicle to customers for collections.

The benefits to our business are improved efficiencies through fuel savings and improved response times for customer requests. The system also enables excessive vehicle speed and long engine idling time to be tracked and reduced.

While the exact cost savings in fuel have not yet been quantified, the Navman GPS solution is an excellent tool for running a more efficient transport fleet.

Hybrid trial

We’re always looking out for opportunities to minimise our environmental impact, and with Pace we’ve recently undertaken a Toyota Prius II hybrid trial. The trial was conducted to understand the cost/benefit for our couriers to use a hybrid vehicle.
The hybrid certainly demonstrated that for around-town use, they used less fuel – almost 50 percent less – than other vehicles of similar ages being used. Based on this trial we’ve identified significant benefits to a hybrid, given the around-town mileage that Pace couriers do.

With these benefits in mind, as well as Toyota’s environmental lifecycle focus, we have gone on to negotiate a preferential purchasing scheme of hybrid vehicles for our couriers.

Eco tube and Fuelstar devices

With Pace we’re also trialling the Eco Tube device which has been developed to provide an immediate solution to the reduction of vehicle emissions. This device fits quickly and easily into the cooling system of most motor vehicles, and works by delivering heated fuel to the carburettor or injectors to provide more complete combustion. We’re currently monitoring this initiative with a selection of our courier vehicles.

With a selection of courier and postal vehicles we’re trialling a fuel catalyst device – called Fuelstar – that is designed to achieve a more complete fuel burn, using less fuel and producing lower emissions.

The vehicles involved in the trial include a motorcycle, a small van and a medium-size van, all used on high-mileage operational runs.

Electric vehicles

We are evaluating an electric-powered motorbike as a possible replacement for the conventional petrol-powered motorcycle for motorised postie delivery rounds. The initial evaluation and trials are showing some encouraging results.
The benefits we’ve been able to achieve by embarking on these new environmental programmes have been immense. We’ve formed some excellent relationships with our stakeholders, suppliers and with our customers, which have translated into joint learnings for all of us.

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Express Couriers Limited wins National Sustainable Business Network Award

The Sustainable Business Network celebrated the achievements and innovations of New Zealand’s most sustainable businesses at the 2008 National SBN Awards, held on 9th October at Auckland’s War Memorial Museum. 

Accolades celebrated businesses in many categories demonstrating leadership through their sustainability achievements.  All finalists were already winners of regional Sustainable Business Network Awards.

This year, Express Couriers were awarded overall winners of the emerging large business category and were recognised for their commitment to embedding sustainable best practice across its organisation.  Express Couriers through its brands CourierPost, Pace, Contract Logistics and Roadstar have launched industry firsts such as environmental packaging and recycling programs in which proceeds are donated to charities, heavily invested in programmes focused on health and safety and staff well-being, demonstrated a strong focus on social and community involvement plus have integrated environmental management into their day-to-day courier, logistics and warehousing operations.

Jim Quinn, CEO of Express Couriers is delighted with the acknowledgement from the SBN and with the achievements of the organisation “I’m proud of our commitment to sustainable practice which involves the whole team and that Express Couriers have been recognised for doing our bit when it comes to taking care of our environment”

Further information on Express Couriers Limited and their sustainability activities can be found on www.takingcare.co.nz