The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recognized 47 truck carriers and freight shippers across the nation for their leadership in supply chain, environmental, and energy efficiency through the annual SmartWay Excellence Awards. This year's awards were announced at a virtual ceremony attended by EPA's SmartWay Partners, affiliates, key stakeholders, and media.
Among the awardees are two New England-based companies: Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc. of Lakeville, Massachusetts, and The TJX Companies, Inc. of Marlborough, Massachusetts. These companies have been acknowledged for their top performance in moving goods with lower emissions and less energy consumption.
"Everyone deserves clean air to breathe, no matter where they live or work," said EPA New England Regional Administrator David W. Cash. "With such a dense transportation network here in New England—often with highways running straight through communities—it’s essential that we find innovative ways to reduce emissions by more efficiently transporting people and goods."
Both Ocean Spray and TJX have been partners with SmartWay for nearly 20 years. They set ambitious carbon reduction goals, report progress annually to SmartWay and international carbon disclosure platforms, and encourage their hired truck carriers to join SmartWay to reduce emissions. Their strategies include reducing truck idling times at facilities, revising freight networks for efficiency using intermodal rail for long hauls, reducing local delivery truck emissions, eliminating excess packaging for shipments, and increasing the volume of products per truckload.
Since its inception in 2004, SmartWay Partners have collectively avoided emitting 162 million tons of CO2, 2.8 million tons of nitrogen oxides (NOx), and 114 thousand tons of particulate matter (PM). They have also saved 379 million barrels of oil and over $52 billion in fuel costs—equivalent to eliminating annual energy use in over 24 million homes.
Ocean Spray and TJX are part of a diverse group of awardees from eight out of ten EPA regions as well as Canada.
The full list of the 2024 SmartWay Freight Partner Excellence Award recipients includes:
- Arrow Transportation
- Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations
- Canadian Reefers Ltd.
- Cargo Transporters
- Covenant Transport
- Crete Carrier Corporation
- CRST The Transportation Solution Inc.
- D&D Transportation Services Inc.
- Danny Herman Trucking Inc.
- Discount Tire
- Divine Enterprises, Inc.
- Dollar Tree Stores, Inc.
- Edgewell Personal Care
- Elevate Textiles, Inc.
- Forza Transportation Services, Inc.
- Gap Inc. Canada
- Gap Inc. USA
- Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products LP
- GP Transportation Co
- Hirschbach Motor Lines
- Hogan Transports, Inc.
- Keane Thummel Trucking Inc.
- Kellanova
- Kimberly-Clark Corporation
- Knight Transportation,
- Kohl's
- Lowe's Companies,
- May Trucking Company
- McDonald's USA,
- Meijer
- Mesilla Valley Transportation
- Mike Frost Trucking,
- Nussbaum Transportation Services,
- Ocean Spray Cranberries,
- Paper Transport,
- Prime,
- Royal Trucking Company
- Ryder Dedicated Transportation Solutions (DTS)
- Saia Motor Freight Line,
Schneider Swift Transportation Co.of Arizona LLC The Home Depot U.S.A., Tractor Supply Company Trans-West Logistics/Logistiques Trans-West Werner Enterprises Western Express,
EPA's SmartWay Partnership assists companies in benchmarking freight performance to make sustainable supply chain decisions by establishing common yardsticks for comparing emissions performance; facilitating effective operational choices; providing a platform for sharing experiences; innovations; best practices; helping companies make positive impacts on efficiency environment
For more information about the SmartWay Excellence Awards visit https://www.epa.gov/smartway/smartway-excellence-awardees
For more information about the SmartWay program visit https://www.epa.gov/smartway
