Designing solutions for the future

The Italian logistics specialist CST Logistica Trasporti has been using LNG-powered trucks since 2017. The company is continuing to expand its LNG fleet for good reasons and is thus getting closer to the climate targets it has set itself with every kilometre driven.

One of the 160 LNG-powered trucks currently operated by the Italian company CST Logistica Trasporti in front of the company’s own LNG filling station. Source: Scania

Six years ago, CST Logistica Trasporti, one of Italy’s most important transport and logistics companies in the wholesale food transport sector, invested in LNG-powered trucks. This is because large amounts of greenhouse gas can already be saved with fossil LNG. CNG, which is liquefied by cooling, burns much cleaner and produces 15 percent less CO₂, 35 percent less nitrogen oxides and even 95 percent less particulate matter than diesel. And just as with CNG trucks, which can be fuelled with biogas, it is possible to operate LNG trucks with liquefied bio-LNG/-LBG in a virtually CO₂-neutral manner.

The logistics specialist is one of the pioneers in Italy with regard to alternative drives and LNG use: Source: CST Logistica Trasporti

The clever drive concept, which is in no way inferior to a diesel truck in terms of performance, payload and versatility and even operates more quietly, already convinced the Italians in 2017. With the commissioning of the first fifty LNG vehicles, CST Logistica Trasporti became a pioneer of alternative drives in Italy. “Sustainability is the only way into the future for us. For years we have been opting for environmentally friendly and modern drive solutions,” explains Roberto Scarpa, President of the Italian Federation of Professional Freight Forwarders (FIAP) and head of CST Logistica Trasporti.

“We believe that today more than ever, environmental sustainability must be an integral part of general business practices,” Scarpa adds. No wonder, CST Logistica Trasporti attaches great importance to a sustainable truck fleet. While in Italy more than half of the trucks still only meet Euro 4, at CST more than 90 per cent of the vehicles are LNG-powered or diesel engines that meet Euro 6.

Part of the green fleet, which is almost CO₂-neutral on the road thanks to bio-LNG/LBG in the tank. Source: CST Logistica Trasporti

Currently, 160 LNG semitrailers are travelling through Italy under the CST logo. “We specialise in transporting food at room temperature and controlled temperatures. And we work for the most important companies in the wholesale sector,” Scarpa says. “The constant renewal of our fleet allows for greater efficiency and a lower environmental impact – many of our customers appreciate that.”

Seven 410 hp LNG tractor units and a further 40 Scania super trucks are expected to help further reduce the carbon footprint in this new location. Source: Scania

The company, which has several of its own depots in northern and central Italy, is currently building a new site in Martellago, north of Venice, with huge warehouses that can store 30,000 square metres of food at room temperature and 12,000 square metres at controlled temperature. Seven 410 hp LNG tractor units and another 40 Scania super trucks will help to further reduce the carbon footprint at this new location.

Lisa Scarpa, head of the integrated management system at CST, explains the Italian logistics specialist’s sustainability goals. Source: Scania

“By investing in technologically advanced vehicles, training our drivers and continuously improving the energy efficiency of our warehouses, we are actively pursuing the goals of the UN’s Agenda 2030,” also explains Lisa Scarpa, Head of Integrated Management System at CST. “In doing so, we are aware of the strategic role logistics plays in a more sustainable supply chain – for the environment, society, the country and the individual companies themselves.”

A CST Logistica Trasporti employee in protective gear refuelling an LNG vehicle with the highly cold but sustainable bio-LNG/LBG. Source: CST Logistica Trasporti

The conviction to be on the right track with LNG regarding energy transition went so far at CST that in 2019 they even became the first and so far only LNG distributor for private use in the Triveneto region. And together with Scania as well as the local representative of the Swedish truck manufacturer, they are consistently pushing the change towards more sustainability in transport and logistics. “The relationship with CST started in the 1980s. They were among the first to use our LNG solutions,” recalls Adriano Cuzzuol of Leiballi & Cuzzuol. “Our journey towards sustainability has never stopped since then.”

Together with Swedish truck manufacturer Scania, the innovative company also continues to draw attention to the great benefits of LNG use. Source: Scania

Scania specialist Cuzzuol expects the introduction of electrified solutions in trucks to be gradual this decade and into the next. At the same time, he points out that vehicles powered by biogas or bio-LNG/-LBG already play their part – and a significant one! – contribution to CO₂ emission reductions. “At Scania, we share the determination for change with CST. A sign of this is also the new 420 and 460 hp biogas engines we introduced last year, which will be available from 2024,” adds Scania’s Italian sales director Daniel Dusatti. (pd/jas, 3 August 2023)