MGT 432 Freight Pollution Report

5/15/2019 Freight Pollution Report - Google Docs
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Freight Pollu on
Will Breitenbach, Charlie Evans, Tobias Hawks, Chad Pennington, Heather
Roberson, Michael Talaganis
MGT 431 ‑ B Topical Study, Spring 2019
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1V4un41DzIMY6fdmtv_S6BW-BJgAGnE-cmxwfVFZSsRQ/edit 1/32
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Table of Contents
Industry Brief & Trends 3
Chemistry of Freight Pollu ons Primary Eﬀects 6
Environmental Inﬂuences within Freight Shipping 12
Industry Prac ces and Challenges 13
Company’s Response & Smartway 18
Freight Pollu on Regula ons 22
References 27
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Industry Brief
Freight shipping has been developing at a rapid rate throughout its existence. Freight
transportation has been around since the beginning of the 1600’s in America. Technically
speaking globally, we have been dabbling in freight shipping since the beginning of time. We
have evolved from horse drawn carriages and steam boats to the freight industry we know today
containing trucks, barges, railroads, pipelines and planes. In the 1940’s logistics first focused on
mechanization to improve labor intensive work. Mechanization focused on processes,
electrification, and the rise of robots implemented within these processes to make them faster
and more efficient. After the inventory and demand from these processes grew, so did the
demand for increased transportation dependence. This is where the evolution of freight
transportation excelled. In the 1950’s supply chain management’s focus transitioned to
transportation management. This led us to the ability to grow within globalization which is what
we know the supply chain industry for today.
Types of Freight Shipping
Freight shipping is a fragmented market with 45% of revenues coming from the top
50 companies in this industry. (Zaks Investment) “The freight shipping service industry includes
about 17,000 companies with combined annual revenue of $34 billion” (CH Robinson). Some
top players include Estes Express Lines, Old Dominion Freight Line, UPS Freight, YRC
Regional and FedEx Freight. The focus of these companies is to create a valued service through
their competitive advantage, efficient operations, and relationships built with customers to ensure
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a profitable endeavor. There are many ways to go about the way in which a company will create
and manage these relationships. The most popular forms being Third Party Logistics companies
including full integration (if outsourced), freight forwarding, custom brokers, and freight
brokers.
Many people interchange freight forwarding and 3PL’s however the methods behind
these two follow a completely different order of operations. With 3PL’s, the outside company
itself is doing the entire workload from coordinating shipments to driving it there themselves.
This differs from freight forwarders because they are a type of 3PL whom only handles the
tracking and coordination within shipments and work with outside companies to transport the
product. The difference here can be compared to asset based and nonasset based 3PL’s, one
owns the equipment to move your product, the other finds the equipment to do so. However,
companies can prove to do both functions, DHL has proven to have different branches
specialized in each of these 3PL methods. Freight brokers serve to play the matchmaker in
finding shippers for carriers and vice versa. Custom brokers are “responsible for knowing all of
the relevant rules and regulations from the point of origin through to the destination and ensuring
compliance” (book), the babysitters so to speak. Finally, those that are fully integrated and have
the control, technique, and competitive advantage to carry out the entire business transaction
from start to finish having full control of the process while embracing any downfalls they may
face. It is important to know the different methods within the freight shipping industry so you
can truly understand the clientele and how to meet market demand.
Market Demand
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Freight shipping is a derived demand that comes from the need to move product for
economic functions. This is determined by domestic manufacturing outputs and international
trade demanded. This proves to be a growing industry. In October 2018, shipping volumes
increased by 6.2% while expenditures on transportation increased by 12%. “Simply stated, when
shipment volume is up 6.2 percent, it is the result of an expanding economy,” Donald Broughton,
analyst and commentator for the Cassindices. (joc) In the economy we live in today where
unemployment is at its lowest, incomes are rising, and the reliance on ecommerce is high,
people are spending more money and with that comes an increase in demand. Because demands
for these services are rising so are the costs to deliver making this a volatile market. In 2018,
freight shipping costs were projected to increase by 30% (Bloomberg). With this in mind paired
with recent inclinations of imposed tariff increases, we can see why demand of freight shipping
is increasing. Due to this volatile market big data is becoming more popular in helping
companies anticipate changes that may occur over time. Not only is this becoming popular to
help forecast changes in demand, but which mode companies should use based on costs, market
share, and capabilities.
Industry Trends
Right now, in this booming industry there are many trends taking place. These trends
range from the damage this industry is causing to the environment and their social responsibility
to eliminate this hindrance toward the quality of life, technological advances through
electrification and modes/fuels used to transport material, operational shortages companies are
struggling with, and imposed tariffs and changing regulations that affect the cost of this process.
As history has shown, we continue to improve ourselves through evolution. The entirety of this
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paper will go into further detail of freight pollution starting with the chemistry behind freight
pollution, the different types of freight pollution, primary and secondary impacts that follow,
industry practices and challenges, what companies are doing to change this, and regulations
implemented within freight shipping.
Chemistry of Freight Pollutions Primary Effects
Effects of Nitrous Oxide (N 2 O)
The ozone layer is vital to all life on Earth for plants, animals, bacteria, and us humans.
Ozone has an amazing quality of being able to block most UV radiation that enters our
atmosphere from the sun. During the 1970s and 80s, compounds called chlorofluorocarbons were
used in industry along with household appliances due to their great ability abilities as
refrigerants. Once entered into the atmosphere, these compounds react with ozone and remove
the third oxygen creating O 2 . Since chlorofluorocarbons were outlawed in the Montreal Protocol
in 1987, the decomposition of the ozone layer today is mainly contributed to the decomposition
of N 2 O coming for combustion byproducts of transportation and industrial practices. (7)
In today’s transportation processes, one of the fewest but most dangerous chemicals
released is Nitrous Oxide (N 2 O). This chemical is released once combusted in gasoline and
diesel engines and is released at the ground level onto the Earth. Due to buoyancy forces of gases
present in our atmosphere and changing wind currents, this nitrous compound gets swept up into
the atmosphere where it rests in the stratosphere. Once in this layer of the atmosphere, it is then
broken down into N 2 and O by photolysis by Ultra Violet (UV) light. From there is reacts with
oxygen radicals which are high energy atoms needing one extra electron that will rip a spare
electron from whichever atom it comes into contact with first. After this it forms N 2 and O 2 and
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then into 2NO. Since nitrogen prefers to form three bonds total with other molecules, the
compound picks up an extra nitrogen atom from the atmosphere since the air on our planet is
composed on seventynine percent oxygen. Once this happens, diatomic nitrogen N 2 forms
leaving the Oxygen radical free in the atmosphere. This radical then attacks ozone molecules
(O 3 ) and forms 2O 2 . (13) (14)
The following is the series of reactions that occurs when Nitrous Oxide is decomposed by
UV radiation:
1.1
and reaction with O(1D) (oxygen radical)
1.2
And finally:
1.3
Acid Rain from Automobiles
When organic compounds are combusted in an engine, the general byproducts are water
and carbon dioxide. This is true for all general combustion reactions except in the case when the
reaction is not hot enough to burn to completion or there are impurities present in the fuel. This
incomplete combustion causes carbon monoxide (CO) to form, along with any compounds
formed from sulfur and nitrogen present in the fuel. These cause sulfur dioxides (SO 2 ) and
nitrogen dioxides (NO 2 ) to form. The basic reactions that form these oxides are as follows:
S (aq) + O 2(g) ⇒ SO2(g) 2.1
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N (aq) + O 2(g) ⇒ N O2(g) 2.2
Once these combustion problems have formed, they can then react with hydroxyl radicals
(OH) and hydrogen (H+) present in the atmosphere that are left behind from water vapor being
decomposed due to any number of pollutants in the air. Once they come into contact with these
other atoms, they can form hydrosulfuric acid and nitric acid in vapor form. The compounds are
then swept around by air currents where they are taken to colder climates and condense into
liquid form with other water particles, creating acid rain. Acid rain is devastating to the
environment as it kills plants, harms wildlife, erodes roadways, and even dissolves stone
buildings as the compounds present in the rocks chemically reacts with the acid rain. (6) The
following is the chemical reaction of sulfuric and nitric acid as it forms in the atmosphere:
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
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Ocean Acidification/Thermal Pollution
As more and more CO 2 enters the atmosphere from combustion engines such as
gasoline/diesel trucks, airplanes, or ocean tankers, the warmer the planet becomes. This is due to
the fact that CO 2 is a greenhouse gas. The definition of a greenhouse gas means that once the gas
enters the atmosphere, it traps solar
radiation by day and holds it on earth by
night. In an ideal world, this process should
be even; the amount of solar radiation
absorbed during the day should be equal to
the amount of solar radiation released
during the night. Since the Earth is spinning and is constantly one half light and the other dark,
this absorption/radiation process is continuous. But due to these increased levels of greenhouse
gases, this radiation is kept on Earth and the global temperature fluctuates. (15)
This global fluctuations of temperature affects all life here on this planet. While we are
currently in the middle of a warming period since the last Ice Age (and there is not normally
supposed to be ice on the polar caps based on the planet’s geological history) (16) the Arctic and
Antarctic ice are melting at an alarming rate. This not only is dangerous to animals that require
the ice to live, this also raises the sea level around the planet as ice is deposited into the ocean
and then melts. But the biggest problem with global temperature increase is not the ice caps; it is
the acidification of the ocean from the increase of in CO 2 dissolved in ocean water that threatens
us all.
When excess CO 2 is exhausted over land and into the atmosphere, it makes its way to the
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oceans through air currents. When CO 2 comes in contact with the ocean, it diffuses into the
water the same way oxygen does in a pond or in a glass of water. The only difference is that the
ocean is filled with carbonate ions (CO 3 2 ) that are present in the water. These ions are extremely
import to marine life as adolescent creatures use these ions along with calcium to form the
building blocks of their shells. (11) When excess CO 2 binds with these carbonate atoms and
water, it decomposes H 2 O into 2H + and one O 2 atoms. The CO 2 then combines with the excess
hydrogen and carbonate atoms present in the water to form bicarbonate (HCO 3 ) releasing
oxygen into the water/atmosphere and leaving one H + present in the water. This excess hydrogen
atoms and the bicarbonate molecules are what cause solutions to become acidic as acids are
protons (H + ) donors. This decrease of ocean pH (lower pH = higher acidity) is also contributed
to the bleaching of coral reefs, killing millions of corals and sponges that act as safe havens and
feeding areas for entire ecosystems of small organisms. With the ever increasing amount of CO 2
being produced from freight transportation, the ocean becomes more and more acidic everyday.
(15)
The increase in global greenhouse gases is also the main contributor to the shift in global
weather patterns, especially ones such El Niño and La Niña. El Niño is a catastrophic weather
occurence that takes place when normal equator ocean temperatures are higher than the yearly
average. Trade winds in the Pacific Ocean push warm water from South America towards Asia
and Australia creating the normal weather patterns. But with the temperature increase in ocean
water and in atmospheric air, along with the breakdown of trade winds, the shift of weather
patterns from South American and creates abnormal rainfall in Asian and Australia. This rainfall
causes flooding, crop damage, air quality issues, and even an increased risk of wildfires. (9)
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La Niña takes place in the years following an El Niño event but is the complete opposite.
This weather event drastically increases trade winds which cool the ocean down. This rapid
cooling of Pacific Ocean water can create droughts in South America as less water is being
evaporated into the atmosphere. One potential positive of La Niña is that the cooling of the
Ocean draws heat out of the atmosphere, cooling the planet as air shifts. (9)
Smog
Since business never sleeps and the world works day and night to deliver products to
their proper destinations, there is an ever increasing amount of pollution being created especially
in metropolitan areas. During the night, moisture in the atmosphere condenses into dew on the
ground, coating everything in moisture. When dawn comes around, the morning dew begins to
evaporate as sunlight raises the area’s temperature. This water vapor then mixes with ground
level pollutants from automobiles and creates smog.
The main component of smog is ground level ozone synthesized from the breakdown of
Nitrous Oxide (N 2 O) and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The predecessors to this
reaction were covered in the above section but the ozone synthesis reaction is presented below
(12):
O 2 + UV → O + O 4.1
O + O 2 → O 3 4.2
This ground level ozone is not only detrimental to the environment as it breaks back down into
O 2 and O 2 and repeats the cycle, it is also extremely caustic to humans. Ozone can cause lung
and esophagus inflammation, decrease lung capacity, damage lung tissue, cause chronic
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coughing, shortness of breath, and even exacerbates diseases such as asthma, emphysema, and
bronchitis. (10)
Environmental Influences within Freight Shipping
Secondary Effects of Freight
Shipping not only causes problems because of pollution but it also causes environmental
problems with making the ships, trucks, planes and trains. Modern day shipping is mainly made
from aluminum which is made through a series of steps. The first step in producing aluminum is
to mine aluminum ore, also known as bauxite, from the Earth's crust. This only helps with the
destruction of ecosystems since most of the mining is done in a series of destructive tasks.
Miners begin by clearing the surface of an ore deposit which means that they use bulldozers to
tear down all the trees and plants growing there. The miners then use explosives to soften the
ground so the actual bauxite can be picked up and
refined. The second step in making aluminum is to
refine the bauxite through a process known as the
Bayer process (Student). Along with giving us the
main ingredient to make aluminum, the Bayer
process produces a waste known as red mud which
is a highly concentrated mixture of calcium and
sodium hydroxide. The only use for this waste is in ceramics because the mixture is able to be
molded and keeps its shape when dried. But if put back into the environment red mud is very
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toxic when plants grow in it because the plants will start to produce aluminum oxides. These
gases are toxic to breath which is why the United States has very strict regulations on where to
deposit this waste (Bayer).
The process of making aluminum not only releases dangerous chemicals into the
environment but it also cause deforestation. When people talk about the pollution given off by
shipping they seem to always forget that there are many more environmental factors and
pollutants given off in the process of making ships, trucks, plans, and trains.
Origin of Freight Pollution
Freight pollution can be tracked and traced to various shipping routes and countries. The
main countries responsible for freight pollution are China, United States, India, Russia and
Japan. China itself accounts for thirty percent of the worlds pollution with United States
following at fifteen percent (Top 5). Even though the United States is only accredited with fifteen
percent they cause more by outsourcing work which causes more pollution in other countries.
Because people in the United States want so much merchandise there is a lot of global pollution
created to fill the demand. Along with causing more pollution in other countries, this high
demand from the United States also causes a lot of ocean shipping which is leading to lots of air,
noise and water pollution.
Freight pollution comes in many different forms with the most common form being air
pollution which is caused by all forms of freight. The second most common type of pollution is
noise pollution. In ocean freight the noise pollution can interfere with marine animals mating
calls, hunting or migration patterns. The other two main types of pollution caused by freight are
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accidents and waste disposal. Both of these are unavoidable weather we are using gas or electric
freight.
Industry Practices, Challenges, and Trends
Ocean Liner
To understand freight pollution and to understand its depth and connection in several
industries, it is important to analyze the big industry players as they can be some of the most
impactful companies in the space that they operate. For the intentions of our research of
understanding freight pollution, we want to center our focus on Ocean Liner Shipping, Trucking,
and railroads. Understanding their decisions and research can point to what the future may look
like for their respective industries.
Maersk, the largest ocean liner shipping company has
publically been committed to sustainability and ensuring
that technology is being advanced in order to become net
zero C02 by 2050. Within the next month, Maersk is going
to be launching the first vessel that will be shipped using BioFuel alone. This journey is going to
occur somewhere within the next month, hopefully paving the way for more use of BioFuel.
Biofuel is often referred to as Second Generation Fuel, this means that the fuel comes from waste
products that can range from woods chips all the way to forest residue. In this case of Maersk,
shell is providing all of the fuel. The fuel Shell is providing is used from exclusively used
cooking oil. (Maersk)
A spokesperson Toren Soft from Maersk had this to say of the BioFuel test. “Biofuels are
one of the potential solutions that can be implemented in the short and medium term. Through
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this pilot, we aim to learn more about using biofuels in general, and to understand the
possibilities around increasing its usage in a sustainable and economical way.”
While Maersk is paving the way through the use of different fuels, other technologies are
being developed in structure and materials in hopes of bringing about positive changes in the
ocean liner industry. Some of the changes that they are trying to constantly improve upon are hull
coatings that make them more fluid, new propeller design, and even larger ships to increase the
efficiency. (Mcleman)
While continuous improvement is inherent in most industries, potentially the most promising
improvement for the environment lies with solar and ebatteries. Portliner a small inland
container shipping company released designs of a container ship that is entirely powered by
ebatteries. (PortLiner) We also see the growth of electrification in the water shipping industry,
“Maritime transport is responsible for about 3 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions,
according to the European Commission; According to Gilliam, electrification of short distance
routes in Europe is inevitable. But in the longer term, the group is even more optimistic that
fossil fuels will become a thing of the past across the economy.” (Grover)
As we have hope for the future of these great practices being implemented, they are not
being implemented on the grand scale that we as consumers would like to see. Maersk, being the
largest ocean liner company is partnering with large oil companies and they have formed a joint
venture with several other industry competitors to brainstorm ideas and collaborate to make
sustainable changes. An important barrier that I see for the Ocean Liner Container Shipping
Industry is the deep roots they have with Oil and Gas that have not typically been companies that
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lead the charge in sustainability. In fact the Maersk family owns an oil and gas drilling and
discover company.
Automotive/Trucking
The companies that are paving the way for the best practices in the trucking industry are
not always the 3PLs. 3PLs are not necessarily the companies that are innovating these products.
However, having them on board and having them take advantage of new technology is crucial.
One of the most interesting developments in the
trucking industry is the announcement of the Nikolo
HydrogenElectric truck (pictured on the right). One of
the companies pushing forward technology is
Anheuserbusch. “ AnheuserBusch has a broader
mission – to create an emissionsfree vehicle fleet that will result in the company converting 100
percent of its dedicated fleet to sustainable sources by 2025.” AnheuserBusch has committed to
buying 800 trucks for their fleet. Their current fleet is between 750 to 900 trucks so buying those
800 trucks could see AnheuserBusch Logistics being 100% of their fleet emissions free. Nikola
has experienced a flood of orders, currently having 14,000 outstanding orders. There are
currently not taking any new orders, and we see that being a barrier to entry for several
companies if there are not enough hydrogenelectric engines that can service all the demand.
(Straight) Ryder, the large transportation company has also made a large order for these. Tesla is
also doing work on this front.
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We are in the beginning stages of the electrification freight era with electric motors
and the Tesla Semi making their way into the freight industry. The Tesla Semi is one of the most
talked about up and coming vehicles in the freight industry right now. Tesla claims this
semitruck is the “Safest, most comfortable truck with 4 independent motors that maximize
acceleration and power at the lowest total cost of ownership.” (Tesla) Now that may be a hard
bargain to follow but after it’s reveal in November many companies such as Walmart, Pepsi,
FedEx, Sysco, and DHL have put in their orders for this new vehicle showing that this is a trend
to watch for in the trucking industry. "We expect allelectric trucks to change the playing field in
the years ahead," City Furniture chief operating officer Andrew Koenig said in a statement.
"Based on the ROI we've already seen by converting most of our delivery fleet to alternative fuel
vehicles, we anticipate the Tesla Semis will bring major savings in energy costs and
maintenance, while taking performance and reliability to a level that hasn't yet existed."
(Business.Insider) Popular companies such as DHL and automotive companies like Honda are
following this transition and using electric motors within their transportation process. More
recently companies like UPS are following this trend; by “deploying stationary energy storage
and smart electric vehicle charging at its London depot to allow its entire, citywide fleet to go
all electric.” (Sammi Grover).
The one hinderance within the electrification trend would be the lack of charging
stations. Many companies like UPS are finding ways to make these charging ports readily
available to condone the ownership of electric motor vehicles. This trend is rising in popularity
due to laws and regulations taking place to help deter the impacts freight shipping is causing to
the environment creating a more socially responsible guideline for companies to follow.
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Electrification can also help with the inability to find people to fill these occupations. Because
this is a job that’s not really appealing to the eye and takes a specific lifestyle to endure many
companies are offering incentives to increase the workforce within freight shipping specifically
focusing on trucking. Electrification could increase the times products are received in turn
lessening the amount of time needed to be on the road. Many incentives such as lowering the
hiring age, salary increases, and stipulations on how many days a week/hour a day you can drive
for are taking place to increase these low rates due to the increase of demand through freight
shipping. A recent report published by the American Trucking Associations found that annual
salary for truckers in the United States rose roughly 18% between 2013 and 2017.
Electrifications popularity rose from the detrimental damage combustion motors and
emissions from these motors are causing to our environment from freight shipping. From
greenhouse gases to acid rains the increase
in traditional transportation has only
contributed to the damage caused within
our environment. To the right are the most
to least energy efficient modes of
transportation. Since trucks or lorries, an
English term, are the least energy efficient
mode of transportation, we can see why electrification has become such a huge trend within this
mode. Because of the increasing pollution from freight shipping many laws and regulations are
being implemented to help control companies responses on the impacts freight pollution has.
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Company’s Response & Smartway
As many consumers become more sustainable, ecominded, and more aware of the
pollution caused by expanded logistics, many companies have altered their triple bottom line to
heighten their image and become more sustainable for the future. Increased pressure from the
media and third party environmental agencies like the EPA have caused companies with large
supply chains to take notice and alter their practices. Some great examples of this shift come
from Walmart and Dell. In 2016, Walmart was the first large retailer to set an emissions
reduction plan approved by the Science Based Targets
Initiative, which was also in alignment with the Paris
Climate Agreement. This plan outlined Walmart’s goals to
reduce scope 1 and 2 emissions by 18% by the year 2025
(Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Walmart). By next
year, the retail giant plans to operate half of their operation
centers on renewable energy. Walmart is also focusing on
loading more full truckloads in shipments and creating
more energy efficient refrigeration in transportation.
Walmart is working with suppliers to reduce emissions
across their supply chain to reduce 1 gigaton equivalent of carbon dioxide emissions, which
compares to taking 211 million cars off the road (Sweet, Cassandra).
Another company leading the path for more sustainable supply chains is Dell. Usually,
tech companies utilize air shipping for their expensive products, but Dell has switched from air
shipments to utilizing ocean and trucking transportation because air transportation is the most
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polluting. Also, similar to Walmart, Dell is consolidating shipments to full truckloads only,
which keeps more trucks off the roads. In Europe, Dell is moving distribution centers closer to
population centers, which means that trucks have to travel less far to reach retail stores and
consumers. Dell is sacrificing cheaper costs to build a distribution center in the middle of
nowhere, which has much cheaper land, and instead builds them closer to cities at a higher cost
to be more sustainable. Dell also tries to keep returns to minimum and allows consumers with
broken or defective products to return them in store or to be fixed by third parties to operate
more sustainable on reverse logistics. Dell also keeps track of their scope 1 and 2 emissions on
their website and have decreased 7,000 equivalent units of carbon dioxide emissions in only 3
years (Dell, Green Transportation and Logistics).
However, some companies are a bit behind on their
sustainable logistics practices. Amazon focuses more on using
renewable energy for their sorting centers and warehouses and
have done a great job building wind farms and solar panel
farms across the world to support that, but they lack visibility in their emissions figures and
aren’t doing enough to maximize sustainability within their shipping procedure (Clancy,
Heather). Although Amazon Prime members love their free two day shipping, it is extremely
harmful to the environment. When Amazon’s customers utilize the two day shipping, more
trucks are put on the road because Amazon doesn’t have the demand to create full truckloads,
and mostly operate at lessthan truckloads (Nguyen, Nicole) (Murdock, Andy). However, to
combat this Amazon has offered free “norush” shipping to Prime members, and offer 5 dollars
off their next purchase (on qualifying products). This norush option takes almost a week longer
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than the 2 day shipping and can allow for Amazon to create a more sustainable truckload to ship
the package. However, this option is hardly utilized and has an expiration date July 1st, 2019
(About FREE NoRush Shipping). According to Vox Media and Miguel Jaller, from the Institute
for Transportation Studies at the University of California Davis, Amazon may see in increase in
usage of the “norush” shipping if they renamed it to “Green Shipping” to could make the
purchaser feel justified for helping the planet (Muttulingam, Sanjayan). Amazon has a lot more
work though, especially with the unsustainable options of “Amazon Wardrobe” which allows
subscribers to have an outfit shipped to their house without even buying it. They can then try it
on and if they don’t like it, return it without paying a single cent. Also, according to the
“Amazon Effect” almost all other retailers need to offer inexpensive, free, or fast (2 day
shipping) to compete with Amazon, the giant of online retail (What the Amazon Effect Means
for the Shipping Industry, Shipaware).
Smartway
Much of the shift to more sustainable practices in logistics has been because of
environmental agency’s pressure for larger companies with lots of money to use it to reduce their
emissions. Smartway was founded in 2004 under the authority of the Environmental Protection
Agency, and focuses on measuring, benchmarking, and reducing emissions in the supply chain.
They look at all forms of freight transportation of affiliate companies. Many large corporations
are affiliated with Smartway, thus tracked and benchmarked with other affiliated companies.
Both Dell and Walmart are affiliates, along with JB Hunt, Microsoft, UPS Small Package
Shipping and many more, totaling 3,700 (SmartWay Partner List). But, Amazon is not a part of
Smartway, which has caused criticism. Smartway rates affiliates with main criteria of carbon
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dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and particle pollution grams per mile and grams per ton mile. They are
these affiliates on a scale on 15, with 1 being the best, and have all annual data of their findings
on their website (SmartWay TIPS). Outstanding affiliates are awarded each year. Smartway has
been a great success in the push for sustainable logistics as it has cut 33 billion dollars in fuel
costs and reduced 119 million pollutants since SmartWays inception in 2004 (Smartway TIPS).
Freight Pollution Regulations
The Environment team within the U.S Department of Transportation works on the most
impactful energy and environmental issues in transportation, collaborating with federal agencies
to ensure all issues are considered. The Environmental team helps: “Move freight by the most
efficient and convenient modes, offering substantial reductions in petroleum use. Provide more
transportation choices to help connect people to opportunity” (Transportation.gov, 1). The
Environmental team has also led the way in the implementation of the National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA). “NEPA established a supplemental mandate for Federal agencies to consider
the potential environmental consequences of their proposals, document the analysis, and make
information available to the public” (Transportation.gov, 2). NEPA’s strict mandates makes
company’s pay close attention to the environmental impacts of their modes of transportation.
With all information available to the public, consumers can understand which companies are
environmentally sensitive and which are not. As many people only considered the price of the
product when purchasing a product in the past, this generation now places an emphasis of other
factors like sustainability when choosing who to purchase from. Consumers can then have the
ability to stop buying products from companies who do not take the environment into account.
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This in turn will make companies adopt environmental conscious practices as they cannot lose
large amounts of customers to this important issue. Consumers must consider all shipping
companies and make it a priority to utilize those who take the environment into consideration.
Current Regulations
The Environmental team has introduced multiple laws and regulations to combat climate
change within transportation. The first is the Corporate Fuel Economy standards (CAFE). This
regulation involved the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. “CAFE standard
regulates how far our vehicles must travel on a gallon of fuel. NHTSA sets fuel consumption
standards for medium and heavyduty trucks and engines” (NHTSA,1). This regulation would
not only decrease the amount of emissions for large trucks carrying goods. Having fuel
consumption standards for trucks would make truckers more conscious of the route they are
taking as they can only utilize a certain amount of fuel. Quicker routes lead to shorter trips which
not only saves money for the company transporting those goods, but also reduces the amount of
carbon emissions from those trucks. This regulation would also make highways much safer.
Truckers would not be allowed to drive for an amount of time that may be considered dangerous.
“From 2020 to 2029, the proposed rule’s preferred alternative would save more than $500 billion
in societal costs and reduce highway fatalities by 12,700 lives (NHSTA, 2). The benefits of this
regulation span beyond the environment.
Electric Vehicles
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Another regulation that the Environmental team has put into place is the Alternative Fuel
Corridors. “With the designation of alternative fuel corridors, the Federal Highway
Administration is establishing a national network of alternative fueling and charging
infrastructure along national network highways” (FHWA,1). Electric vehicles have been an
intriguing topic in our society for many years. Companies have introduced a variety of electric
vehicle models. The potential of having electric trucks to carry freight could have help limit our
world’s abuse of fossil fuels. However, as previously discussed an issue with electric vehicle is
the small number of charging stations. “The Alternative Fuel Corridors provides the opportunity
for formal corridor designations on an annual basis; develops national signage and branding to
help catalyze applicant and public interest” (FWHA,3). With more stations that are dedicated
strictly for electric charging stations, many more people will be intrigued to buy an electric
vehicle. This will also lead towards lowered prices for electric vehicles as more people will have
the preference for these models. As electric vehicles become more prevalent, this will lead
toward electric trucks becoming a more affordable and a desired option. Trucks play a large role
on the abundance of carbon in our atmosphere as it is difficult to bring goods to such defined
areas without trucks. With the heightened focus on environmentally friendly actions, companies
will need to adopt vehicles of this classification to save money. This includes environmental
breaks from the government while also avoiding
the use of high costing fossil fuels. If more electric
charging stations are developed, we will see a large
increase in the usage of electric vehicles. The graph
below depicts the exponentially growth of electric
25
vehicles in the past decade. This momentum shows the success of creating more charging
stations.
Current Initiatives
Freight pollution has only contributed to the large growth of pollution destroying our
environment. This has forced governments and companies to create regulations to decrease the
amount of pullulation emitted by vehicles carrying freight. “Over 90 percent of world trade is
carried across the world’s oceans. More than three percent of the global carbon dioxide
emissions can be attributed to oceangoing ships” (Oceana, 1).
From the image to the right it can be seen that the prevalence of ocean shipping is beyond any
other transportation mode. If modifications are made to the ships themselves, or the fuel used,
there would be a massive
reduction in this modes
ecological footprint. The
large abundance of shipping
across oceans has created
groups like Oceana. Oceana’s
goal is to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions by petitioning
the government to regulate these shipping emissions. Oceana works in part with the Center of
Biological Diversity. Some recommendations Oceana has put forth to the EPA include: “Fleets
should implement technical and operational measures such as speed reductions, weather routing,
fuel switching and specialized hull coatings. Fleets should begin to implement longerterm
26
measures to reduce pollution, such as fuelefficient design of new ships and engines created
specifically for slow steaming” (Oceana, 2). Bunker fuel is one of the most polluting fossil fuels
there is today. With oceans becoming more pullulated, specific modifications need to be made to
the way freight is transported across our oceans. With ships being such a common form of
transportation for it is necessary for ships to alter their fuel consumption patterns. One important
part of freight transportation with ships is to limit the amount of air shipped. When goods are
delivered in a specified country, there should goods or materials sent back to the country that
fulfilled the goods. An example of this was seen in class with the Cintas speaker. When their
goods are delivered from a country like Hathi, Cintas then ships needed fabrics in the production
of basic uniforms with no embroidered logo. This can limit pollution to oceans as another ship is
not needed to transport those specific goods. The shipment of air is very detrimental to the
environment. This is why these laws and regulations were set into place, to protect us from
ourselves.

27

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5/15/2019 Freight Pollution Report - Google Docs

Chemistry of Freight Pollu ons Primary Eﬀects 6

Industry Prac ces and Challenges 13

Freight Pollu on Regula ons 22

S (aq) + O 2(g) ⇒ SO2(g) 2.1

N (aq) + O 2(g) ⇒ N O2(g) 2.2

O + O 2 → O 3 4.2

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