A European transportation trio has united to promote the production and use of biomethane as an innovative and renewable fuel to significantly improve road transport in Europe. To this end, Sigeif Mobilités has joined forces with FRAIKIN Group, the European leader in commercial vehicle fleet management solutions, and TAB Rail Road, in a project to promote CNG/Bio-CNG named ‘Olympic Energy’.Sigeif Mobilités is a leading developer of CNG and bio-CNG refuelling stations in the Île-de-France region of north-central France. The joint-venture company was formed in 2016 by the Intercommunal Syndicate for Gas and Electricity in Île-de-France (Sigeif), Caisse des Dépôts, GRTgaz gas transmission system operator, Syctom (the metropolitan agency for household waste), Siaap (public sanitation service in the Paris Region) and Siredom (the South-West France waste recycling agency).
The European Commission has been supporting the deployment of a sustainable and efficient transport system since 2014 and is promoting the decarbonisation of all modes of transport along trans-European corridors and in urban nodes.
In this context, Sigeif Mobilités and its partners have committed themselves to a European project for the promotion of CNG/Bio-CNG, dealing with:
- The construction of eight CNG/Bio-CNG stations in the Île-de-France region by Sigeif Mobilités; and
- The purchase of 330 heavy goods vehicles powered by CNG/Bio-CNG by The FRAIKIN Group and TAB Rail Road for their European network.
The partnership is described as a perfect example of a coordinated approach between a network developer of alternative fuel stations, a rental company and a user of heavy goods vehicles using CNG/Bio-CNG, united in a common ambition to promote the production and use of biomethane, an innovative and virtuous technology, decarbonize road freight transport, reduce noise derived from transport, significantly improve air quality, and thus continue to develop a sector of excellence in Europe that creates value and jobs. The Olympic Energy project, thanks to the European positioning and the experience of its partners, also relies on the complementarity of transport modes: road, inland waterway and rail. The results of this call for proposals will be announced in September 2018.
“The initiative taken by Sigeif to develop the gas mobility sector four years ago is now fully in line with European Union‘s Energy and Climate package objectives and the declinations choosed by the Commission. By virtue of its ambition, size and coherence, the partnership created with FRAIKIN and TAB Transport has all the qualities needed to be recognized by the Commission,” declared Jean-Jacques Guillet, President of SEM Sigeif Mobilités.
“The mission of the FRAIKIN Group is to offer companies and local authorities, whatever their size and activity, the most relevant solutions for the management of commercial and industrial vehicle fleets. […] we exercise our responsibility in designing the most efficient and environmentally friendly solutions for our customers. That’s why today we decided to promote CNG and Bio-CNG”, said Pierre-Louis Colin, Chairman of the Management Board of Groupe FRAIKIN.
“As a road haulage company specialized in the technology of combined road-rail transport, our aim is to develop sustainable transport. This objective is implemented with the use of long-distance railways on one hand, and the deployment of a CNG fleet on the first and last kilometers on the other. It is thanks to this vir
tuous alliance that we are able to offer our shipper customers carbon-free transport”, explains Ivan Stempezynski, Managing Director of TAB Rail Road.
“Already being the leader in Combined Road Rail Transport in France, TAB had to offer a carbon-free transport service by adding CNG and BioGNV to its transport chain. The prerequisite for this project was, and still is, the installation of CNG/BioGNV stations. We therefore enthusiastically support Sigeif’s projects”, adds Jean-Claude Brunier, CEO of the Open Modal Group (of which TAB Rail Road is a member).
Source: SEM Sigeif Mobilités
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