Dean Foods, a leading food and beverage company that specializes in dairy products, is adding 64 compressed natural gas (CNG) trucks to its distribution fleet and has teamed up with Clean Energy Fuels Corp. to build a CNG fueling station.
Over the next several months, Dean Foods will introduce 57 CNG Freightliner M2-112 straight trucks and seven Freightliner Cascadia over-the-road tractors powered by the Cummins ISL-G and ISX12-G engines, respectively, and outfitted with Agility CNG fuel tanks.
‘We see the value a cleaner and more cost-effective fuel can provide to our company, our stakeholders and our community,’ says Mike Ahart, vice president of Dean Foods. “We are pleased to add these natural gas vehicles as a component of our ongoing sustainable business practices.”
Dean Foods won a grant covering a portion of the vehicle costs under the Texas Natural Gas Vehicle Grant Program, which is funded by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
As part of its overall greenhouse-gas reduction goal, Dean Foods set a target in 2008 to reduce its distribution fleet's CO2 emissions by 50,000 metric tons by 2013 – a goal surpassed by the end of 2010. The goal was revised in 2012 to reduce distribution emissions 95,000 metric tons by 2020.
Clean Energy Fuels has entered an agreement to construct a private fueling station at Dean Foods' Oak Farms Dairy plant in Houston, where the new CNG trucks will fill up.
Station construction is scheduled to be completed by the second half of this year. Clean Energy Fuels says the facility will be engineered with the ability to expand to accommodate fueling a fleet of 120 CNG commercial vehicles.
“The introduction of natural gas into the fuel mix of the Oak Farms Dairy fleet is a positive step, and we are eager to help this industry-leading company succeed with CNG,” comments Chad Lindholm, vice president of Clean Energy.
The Dean Foods portfolio includes the TruMoo flavored milk brand, along with regional dairy brands such as Oak Farms, Alta Dena, Berkeley Farms, Country Fresh, Dean's, Garelick Farms, and LAND O LAKES (used by license), among others.
