NACFE Can Assist Fleets as They Navigate the Current Tough Freight Environment

From Executive Director Mike Roeth

The trucking industry continues to find itself in challenging times with segments of the market struggling to find freight and all segments feeling the impact of high diesel fuel prices. These days, it’s hard for fleets to make money.

NACFE was born during a time when the trucking industry was challenged and since then our mission has been to help fleets operate in a more efficient manner. And since our founding in 2009, we’ve been working hard at investigating technologies that help fleets get more miles from a gallon of diesel. To date we have published 15 Confidence Reports that together explore 86 technologies.

Back in the early days of NACFE and continuing right through to today, we have been able to help fleets parse out technologies that work in the real-world from those that don’t deliver on their marketing promises.

What I am trying to say here, is that NACFE has the tools that can assist fleets as they navigate this current tough freight environment. I know some fleets have already adopted some of the technologies and practices that we have studied, while others have been more hesitant to do so. But things change when fuel is close to $6 a gallon. If you are only getting 6 MPG from a gallon of fuel, you are spending $1 a mile. That cost per mile goes down when you move from 6 to 8 to 10 MPG. I will leave the math to you, but keep in mind that there are fleets that are routinely getting close to that 10 MPG. If you are closer to the 6 MPG number, I encourage you to check out our reports to determine which of the technologies and practices could give your fleet the boost you need to move the needle on fuel economy.

Also, I believe our information is helpful and probably critical to those of you who support these fleets, either as suppliers of the solutions, software integrators who help with data, dealers, financers, and others. Please, help us all help each other to do more with less.

Later this year we will be publishing an updated report on tractor and trailer aerodynamics as well as our biennial Fleet Efficiency Study (formerly known as the Fleet Fuel Study). Aerodynamics is the area where the biggest leaps in MPG can happen and the Fleet Efficiently Study will let you see what technologies and practices some of the most efficient fleets in the industry are deploying in order to benchmark yourself against those fleets.

NACFE exists to help you every day, but in these very challenging days, I hope you will take advantage of the work we’ve done so that you can add to your bottom line.

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