GLS Italy shows how it’s done

Increased driving safety on a daily basis and even lower emissions thanks to biogas and bio-LNG – Italy’s leading express courier service is setting a fine example. Together with other fleet park operators, truck manufacturer Iveco and energy specialist Vulcangas, GLS Italy also inaugurated another organic LNG production facility not far from Milan.

Source: GLS/Iveco

For GLS Italy, the purchase of vehicles such as the Iveco S-Way with LNG drive and running on LNG or even bio-LNG was just the first step along the way to making its fleet increasingly greener. Italy’s leading express courier service also offers extra driving safety and economy courses for its drivers so as to increase safety and efficiency in day-to-day driving.

GLS drivers benefit from experience in the driving simulator as well as real-life exercises such as emergency braking, avoiding obstacles and long slaloms: here they get to try out the impact of load shift and the effects on vehicle handling in a safe environment. “At GLS, we strongly believe in the value of training at all levels because we believe that it’s a fundamental element in ensuring a high-quality service,” says Klaus Schädle, Group Area Managing Director at GLS.

The GLS drivers also learn how to be more economical and safer on the road by means of a driving simulator. And they do so with CNG and LNG trucks as well as with trucks equipped with conventional drives. Source: GLS/Iveco

The vehicle used for driving safety training is an Iveco S-Way LNG with a dual 540-litre LNG tank, 3,800 wheelbase and Hi-Tronix automatic transmission, equipped with special fuel-saving systems such as Hi-Cruise, Eco-Roll and Eco-Switch for maximum efficiency. Biogas as a fuel – whether compressed or liquefied to form bio-LNG – is currently the only alternative that, thanks to sophisticated drive technology, does not require any compromise in terms of performance (range and payload) or refuelling time compared to diesel. Furthermore, regional biogas production promotes energy independence and contributes to the development of rural areas.

For this reason, GLS Italy has joined forces with truck manufacturer Iveco and gas supplier Vulcangas to inaugurate a new biomethane production facility in Cascina Antegnatica, south-east of Milan. This makes it possible to recycle waste from local farms, thereby closing the waste material cycle and providing the courier service and logistics specialist GLS Italy with a fuel equivalent to fossil natural gas.

Happy with the new biogas plant: among others, Alessandro Vagaggini, GLS Director of Operations, Davide Ferraro, GLS Senior Manager National & International Linehauls, Andrea Bosi, Vulcanga’s Key Account Manager, and Valerio Vanacore, Iveco Alternative Traction Manager Italy Market. Source: Iveco.

“Thanks to the joint efforts of several departments, we’ve been able to achieve our ambitions in terms of environmental sustainability. We’re seeking to minimise emissions, waste and kilometres travelled and opt for renewable energy sources,” says Alessandro Vagaggini, Director of Operations at GLS. “In doing so, we’ve been focusing on LNG-powered vehicles and are now able to supply them with bio-LNG to our complete satisfaction.” Nevertheless, biogas and bio-LNG production is to be expanded even further, as Andrea Bosi, Key Account Manager at Vulcangas, points out: “The energy world is going through an unprecedented phase – these are historic times. Today, biogas and bio-LNG occupy a strategic position in this supply chain for the transport sector. It’s a clean fuel that reduces CO₂ emissions and frees us from energy dependency.”

Incidentally, Iveco S-Way with LNG drives run by the transport companies Gruppo D’Innocenti, T&T.I, Canguro and A&V were also present at the inauguration of the new biogas plant in northern Italy. Just like GLS, they also contribute to more sustainable heavy transport and rapid decarbonisation by choosing vehicles with a more climate-friendly drive. (pd/jas, 02 November 2022)

Thanks to the new biogas production facility in Cascina Antegnatica, southeast of Milan, several transport companies will in future be able to operate their LNG vehicles in a virtually CO2-neutral manner. Source: Iveco