Saddle Creek Corp., a nationwide third-party logistics provider, says it has agreed to purchase 40 Freightliner Business Class M2 natural gas trucks – and plans to add 40 more in early 2012 – for its for-hire fleet.
‘Because the cost of natural gas is less volatile than diesel, it allows us to have more control over our fuel costs and our customers to have a more stable fuel surcharge,’ says Mike DelBovo, president of Saddle Creek.
Saddle Creek is expected to take delivery of the natural gas trucks by the end of the year and plans to be fully operational in early 2012. The trucks will be based at the 3PL's headquarter campus in Lakeland, Fla., and will handle deliveries throughout the Florida peninsula and southern Georgia.
To provide fuel for the trucks, Saddle Creek is building a CNG fueling station at the Lakeland campus – the first such facility constructed for a for-hire fleet in Florida. The contract to build and maintain the station has been awarded to Clean Energy.
