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Sustainability

We’re Proud to Do Our Part for the Planet

Yellow is a charter partner in the Environmental Protection Agency’s SmartWay voluntary emissions program.

SmartWay charter partner

We were present at the first industry planning meeting that led to the SmartWay program and we have been a member since 2004. To qualify each year, our fleet completes an extensive emissions model that takes into account numerous factors such as mileage, payload and intermodal use.

Our objectives are to continue to quantify our transport emissions and work to achieve year-over-year reductions in our CO2 grams per ton mile metric.

Our company-wide commitment

Yellow has twice been awarded the SmartWay Excellence Award, and in 2020 was recognized as a High Performer. Our SmartWay emissions scores are public and can be viewed on the EPA website.

We collectively employ a number of emission reduction practices that can be categorized into three areas: Equipment, Network/Technology and People.

Equipment:

We are currently undergoing the largest fleet refresh in our company’s history with new tractors and trailers. Since 2015, we’ve taken delivery of more than 3,800 new tractors with advanced emissions reductions technology and 9,200 trailers, many equipped with aerodynamic skirts and fuel-efficient tires.
We cap speed limits at approximately 63 mph.
We strictly limit idling – often more restrictive than local regulations.
Biofuels are utilized to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.
We are testing liquefied natural gas (LNG) trucks and fully electric yard tractors in Southern California.
In 2019, we made our first ever purchase of approximately 600 intermodal containers to operate on the BNSF network with the goal of improving efficiencies and reducing on-highway emissions.

Network and Technology:

Since we essentially carpool for shipments, network efficiency is a critical factor for our operations.
We have made significant investments in network optimization/load planning technology and industry leading route guidance software tools that will enhance the efficiency of our linehaul and city operations.
Our Chief Network Officer oversees network engineers and operations planners who work 24/7 to maximize freight flows and are transforming our network in order to realize new efficiencies.
On a historic basis, we rail around 20% of our mileage and if service demands can be met, intermodal is an efficient way for us to move trailers long distances.
We purchase well over 250,000 hotel room stays annually instead of idling our equipment overnight.
We have nearly 130 fueling stations on our properties to reduce unnecessary travel to out-of-the-way truck stops.

People:

We are in our ninth year of annually recognizing employees for environmental achievements with our Destination Green Environmental Excellence award.
An employee of our company was one of 12 people nationwide to be named a Champion of the EPA SmartWay program.
In partnership with leading industry trade associations, our company actively promotes sustainable operations in trucking and one of our former senior executives recently served as chair of the American Trucking Associations Environmental and Energy Policy Committee.