Rebro Transport Service, from Rucphen in the southern Netherlands, has started using two Volvo LNG trucks. As one of the first transport companies in the Netherlands to focus on transport with an LHV combination, the company is determined to makes its transport service more sustainable through utilising Liquefied Natural Gas fuelled vehicles.
The trucks are mainly used for the distribution of packages in Germany, with the PitPoint LNG station at the Truckeasy fuelling station of DCB Energy in Venlo (a city in the southeast of the Netherlands, near the German border) becoming a fixed service point. LNG refueling in Venlo provides a good operating radius in Germany where LNG trucks are exempt from MAUT.
CO2 Reduction of 20 percent
“You can use a simple calculation”, says Roy Rens, owner of Rebro Transport. “An LHV (Long, Heavy Vehicle consisting of a box truck, a dolly and a container chassis or trailer) can carry up to 50 percent more cargo. This results in considerable cost savings and is also better for the environment. We now have eight LHV combinations and have been playing with the idea of driving LNG trucks for this to make our transport more sustainable, something that our clients also consider important. After all, LNG trucks emit 20 percent less CO2.
“The financial picture is right and that is the deciding factor for us now to drive LNG trucks. In Germany we do not have to pay Maut with LNG trucks up to and including 2020 and in the Netherlands there will be an incentive scheme for LNG.”
Action Radius
The two Volvo LNG trucks are equipped with a 205 kg LNG fuel tank for a range of up to 1000 kilometers. “We also have a branch in Meerbusch in Germany,” says Rens. “That is the location of these trucks, which are used continuously at least six days a week. In Germany, the network of LNG filling stations is still under development, but from Meerbusch the PitPoint.LNG LNG filling station in Sevenum (Venlo) is easily accessible.”
Truck delivery was made in collaboration with Volvo Trucks dealer Bluekens Truck and Bus. The drivers of the brand new LNG trucks were immediately thereafter provided with LNG tank training by PitPoint.
DCB Energy notes LNG burns cleaner than diesel, resulting in 95% fewer emissions of particulate matter and 80% fewer emissions of nitrogen oxides. It also has 15% -25% less CO2 emissions. LNG is therefore already widely used in the United States and in various European countries. A distribution network has been set up along the most important international transport routes, the so-called Blue Corridors. These main transport corridors run throughout Europe from North to South and from East to West and vice versa.
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