Clean Energy Adds Major Trucking Fleets to Natural Gas Fueling
Additional Volume Will Expand America’s Natural Gas Highway™ —
Seal Beach, CA (June 29, 2012) – Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (Nasdaq: CLNE) today announced that it has begun providing natural gas fuel to additional trucking fleets which transport products for some of the country’s largest and most well-known brands, accelerating the trucking industry’s conversion to natural gas fuel.
Five firms — Saddle Creek Logistics Services, Lakeland, FL; Premier Transportation, Atlanta, GA; Hoopes Turf Farm, Transport Division, Ulysses, PA; Lily Transportation Corp., Needham, MA; and Lancaster Foods, Jessup, MD — will use compressed natural gas (CNG) at existing Clean Energy public access stations, new stations built for the companies, and liquefied natural gas (LNG) at Clean Energy stations along its America’s Natural Gas Highway™.
“These companies are geographically diverse, but the common theme we hear from all of them is a desire to reduce their fuel costs and to deploy cleaner operating fleets,” said James Harger, Clean Energy’s Chief Marketing Officer. “With the availability of a new class of heavy-duty natural gas trucks as well as more fueling stations, regional and national trucking operators are seeing the enormous benefits of converting to natural gas as their transportation fuel.”
Saddle Creek Logistics Services
Saddle Creek, a nationwide third-party logistics company, has expanded its contract with Clean Energy to build additional private natural gas fueling stations to support Saddle Creek’s expanding fleet of for-hire CNG trucks. Fueling at its new CNG station at the company’s Lakeland headquarters, a fleet of 40 Freightliner natural gas trucks is now serving Saddle Creek’s Florida customers. With its CNG fleet size projected to grow to 120 trucks, this will be the largest over-the-road CNG truck fleet in the state.
“Sustainability is a core strategy at Saddle Creek. We have opted to transition our truck fleets to natural gas power to help our customers secure the benefits of this clean, cost-efficient, abundant domestic fuel,” said Mike DelBovo, Saddle Creek’s President.
Premier Transportation
Premier provides transportation and logistics solutions to the retail department store and consumer products industries. Supported by a national CNG fueling contract with Clean Energy, Premier has deployed a new fleet of CNG-powered heavy-duty Freightliner trucks to serve its customers in the Greater Atlanta area. Expanding to major U.S. metropolitan areas over time, Premier CNG trucks will fuel at Clean Energy’s national network of public access CNG stations.
Premier Chairman and CEO, Mike Medici, said, “Our transition to natural gas fuel for our truck fleets gives us a hedge against rising fuel costs, and the chance to offer a clean, domestic, abundant fuel source to support the sustainability objectives of our retail industry customers.”
Hoopes Turf Farm
Hoopes is a family-owned sod production and contract truck transportation company that offers solutions for construction and energy development sites, industrial hauling, materials delivery, commercial transportation needs, large equipment pick-up and delivery, and private residential requirements. With 10 LNG trucks in service now, the company plans to transition its entire fleet of 50 trucks to LNG power.
The Hoopes LNG fleet will increasingly rely on Clean Energy’s network of public access LNG fueling stations — America’s Natural Gas Highway™ — which will connect major trucking corridors across the country. A total of 150 new Clean Energy LNG fueling stations at strategic locations in 33 states are planned for completion by the end of 2013.
Lily Transportation Corp.
As a Dedicated Contract Carrier providing value added transportation to the grocery, retail and industrial sectors, Lily is committed to using the latest in proven technologies and engineering to support its customers’ cost and environmental needs. Slotted mud-flaps, limited top speeds, minimized idle time and aerodynamic device-equipped tractor trailers and trucks are just some of the tools the company employs on its fleets. Lily has recently deployed a new fleet of CNG-powered trucks to serve one of its supply chain customers in the Los Angeles area. The fleet will fuel at Clean Energy’s extensive local network of public access CNG stations.
John Simourian II, President and CEO, states, “Lily is committed to continuously reducing fuel usage and fuel cost for our customers. In addition, we continually seek to have a positive impact on the communities that we travel through, and our growing use of clean, green, American natural gas fuel for our trucks will help us achieve that objective. We believe that natural gas will become the preferred fuel for transporters, and better yet, it’s good for American jobs, American energy independence, and therefore America.”
Lancaster Foods
A subsidiary of Guest Services, Inc., Lancaster Foods is the largest wholesale produce company in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region. The company — focused on replenishing high-volume wholesalers and responding to fill-in demand — has begun its transition to natural gas power with a new fleet of CNG temperature-sensitive refrigerated trucks. The Clean Energy CNG public access station at Baltimore/Washington, DC International Airport will provide fueling service to the Lancaster trucks.
Doug Verner, Vice President of Corporate Sustainability, noted “These vehicles will make a major contribution to our company-wide efforts to reduce carbon emissions. We are looking forward to expanding our CNG-powered fleet in the future.”
Priced up to $1.50 or more per gallon less than diesel fuel (based on current market conditions) the use of natural gas fuel reduces costs significantly for vehicle and fleet owners, and lowers greenhouse gas emissions up to 23% in medium to heavy-duty vehicles. Additionally, natural gas is a secure North American energy source, with 98% of the natural gas consumed produced in the U.S. and Canada.
Clean Energy (Nasdaq: CLNE) is the largest provider of natural gas fuel for transportation in North America and a global leader in the expanding natural gas vehicle fueling market. We have operations in compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) vehicle fueling; construction and operation of natural gas fueling stations; compressor equipment and technology; biomethane production; and vehicle conversions. We fuel over 530 fleet customers and 25,000 vehicles at more than 273 strategic locations across the country, with a broad customer base in the refuse, transit, trucking, shuttle, taxi, airport and municipal fleet markets.
We are building America’s Natural Gas Highway™, a network comprised initially of 150 planned LNG truck fueling stations connecting major freight trucking corridors across the country.
IMW Industries, Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary, is a global supplier of compressed natural gas equipment for vehicle fueling and industrial applications with more than 1,400 installations in 26 countries. NorthStar, a wholly owned subsidiary, is the recognized leader in LNG/LCNG (liquefied to compressed natural gas) fueling system technologies and equipment, station construction and operations. It has built approximately 70% of the LNG fueling stations in the United States. BAF Technologies, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary, is a leading provider of natural gas vehicle systems and conversions for taxis, vans, pick-up trucks and shuttle buses. It has converted more than 15,000 vehicles. Clean Energy Renewable Fuels (CERF), a wholly owned subsidiary, is developing renewable natural gas (RNG), or biomethane, production facilities in the United States. CERF owns (70%) and operates a landfill gas facility in Dallas, Texas that produces RNG for delivery in the nation’s gas pipeline network for power generation and transportation fuel. CERF is building a second facility in Canton, Michigan. We own and operate LNG production plants in Willis, Texas and Boron, California with combined capacity of 260,000 LNG gallons per day, and that are designed to expand to 340,000 LNG gallons per day as demand increases. For more information, visit www.cleanenergyfuels.com
Forward-Looking Statements — This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including statements about the deployment of natural gas vehicles, the number and location of stations to be included in America’s Natural Gas Highway, the timing for the completion of construction of these stations, the benefits of natural gas relative to diesel fuel, and expectations about the future adoption of natural gas as a vehicle fuel. Actual results and the timing of events could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of several factors, including, but not limited to, the performance, availability and benefits of natural gas trucks relative to gasoline and diesel trucks, permitting or other delays encountered during the identification of locations for, and the construction of, natural gas fueling stations, including those stations planned for America’s Natural Gas Highway, and the price per gallon of natural gas fuel relative to diesel and gasoline. The forward-looking statements made herein speak only as of the date of this press release and, unless otherwise required by law, the company undertakes no obligation to publicly update such forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. Additionally, the reports and other documents the Company files with the SEC (available at www.sec.gov) contain risk factors, which may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this news release.
