Why becoming a SmartWay Affiliate is a smart move for fleets

We’ve just recently experienced one of the most powerful hurricanes in U.S. history; a storm that wreaked havoc (in varying degrees) from Florida all the way up to Canada. As the climate changes, storms such as Ian will get stronger and hit more frequently. These disasters cause hundreds of billions of dollars in damage, impact human lives, and threaten businesses.

For those businesses that rely on the freight industry, specifically private fleets or trucking companies to transport their product to its destination, storms have a profound effect: diesel prices rise and the freight supply chain is threatened (ruined roads and bridges prevent vehicles from arriving at their destination), impacting the ability of companies to fulfill orders and/or manufacture goods. And it’s not just hurricanes we need to be concerned about. Climate change results in long-term drought which leads to barely controllable fires and extreme thunderstorms (though not strong enough to be considered hurricanes) cause flooding, even for communities that are nowhere near a body of water.

How SmartWay responds to the challenges

According to the 2017 U.S. Census Bureau’s Commodity Flow Survey (the most recent report available), commercial trucks moved “71.6% or $10.4 trillion of the $14.5 trillion of the value of goods shipped in the United States.” With the incredible rise in ecommerce, those numbers would undoubtedly be much larger if calculated today. This shows how truck freight transport is absolutely vital to the global economy.

Yet, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) SmartWay site, by 2050 due to this increase in freight, “global freight transport emissions will surpass those from passenger vehicles,” leading to more air pollution, increased warming, and greater threats to business.

That’s why, in 2004, the EPA developed the SmartWay program. Entirely voluntary, this public/private sustainability program was created to address the challenges in ways that are effective but not punitive. The program helps companies advance supply chain sustainability by measuring, benchmarking, and improving freight transportation efficiency, including information about fuel use and freight emissions, most prominently greenhouse gas emissions (GHG).

The agency has provided its more than 3,700 partners with strategies, ideas, and initiatives for emissions reduction so that these businesses can move freight in the cleanest, most energy efficient way possible. There are two ways businesses can become stakeholders in SmartWay, as a Partner or as an Affiliate. Partners are organizations that ship, manage, or haul freight which includes shippers, carriers, and logistics companies. Affiliates are organizations, like truck and trailer leasing companies and dealers, that don’t directly ship goods but wish to support supply chain sustainability. One of those Affiliates, the American Trucking Associations (ATA) is also a Charter Partner. In 2003, the ATA was one of the key organizations that helped the EPA bring together a Charter Partner working group.

Corcentric Capital Equipment Solutions is proud to be a SmartWay Affiliate

According to the EPA SmartWay Affiliate program, “SmartWay Affiliates educate their members and customers about the SmartWay Program and encourage them to join the partnership.” They do this by promoting and selling EPA-designated SmartWay tractors/trailers and SmartWay verified technology.

The SmartWay 2020 Report notes that since its inception in 2004, SmartWay along with its Affiliates have helped SmartWay Partners save “6 billion gallons of fuel, lowered fuel costs by $20.6 billion and reduced carbon emissions by over 60 million metric tons.”

Reducing fuel consumption, emissions, and costs and increasing fuel efficiency is not only good for the environment; it’s good for business. That’s why Corcentric Capital Equipment Solutions is proud to be a SmartWay Affiliate. Our fleet solutions help our customers optimize their truck fleets through smarter fleet management, and SmartWay is one of the ways we can do that. The SmartWay program offers resources at no cost, including freight efficiency tracking tools, best practices, strategies that can help customers save fuel and save money, and strategies that will help improve their freight sustainability.

Companies that exhibit social responsibility to reduce their carbon footprint and the environmental impact of their freight activities by deploying fuel-saving practices can improve their profile and attract more customers. A 2021 Businesswire.com article cites The Global Sustainability Study 2021, “a major study of more than 10,000 people across 17 countries shows that sustainability is becoming increasingly important in consumers’ purchasing decisions, especially as consumers see themselves, along with for profit companies, as the primary catalysts for change.”

Whether it’s a pandemic, natural disasters, or regional conflicts, businesses are constantly facing supply chain challenges. Bottom line – anything that can mitigate the negative effects is welcome. As the SmartWay 2020 Report notes, “Increasingly, through SmartWay, business leaders recognize the importance of freight transport to supply chain performance, and to demonstrate that supply chain, financial and environmental performance all go hand in hand.” Corcentric Capital Equipment Solutions intends to do its part in helping our customers achieve improvement in all three metrics.