In an attempt to reduce its overall emissions, UPS has announced plans to build five new compress natural gas (CNG) fuelling stations in the United States. It is also adding more than 700 new CNG vehicles to its fleet, that include 400 semi-tractors and 330 terminal trucks.

In a statement, UPS said: “This $130m dollar investment in CNG capacity for 2018 builds on previous UPS investments of $100m dollars in 2016 and $90m dollars in 2017. UPS will have invested more than $1bn in alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles and fueling stations from 2008 through 2018.”

The five new CNG stations will be in Goodyear, Arizona; Plainfield, Indiana; Edgerton, Kansas; Fort Worth, Texas; and Arlington, Texas.

Four hundred semi-tractors will be supplied by Freightliner and Kenworth and 330 terminal trucks by TICO. The vehicles are to be used on CNG optimised routes, utilising the new fuelling stations as well as adding to other natural gas fleets including those in Atlanta, Georgia; and Salt Lake City, Utah.

UPS currently operates more than 50 natural gas fueling stations – strategically located across the US, and, outside the US in Vancouver, Canada, and Tamworth, United Kingdom.

“We strongly believe further investment in our natural gas fleet is a key element to help us achieve our long-term goals for reducing our CO2 emissions,” said Carlton Rose, president, global fleet maintenance and engineering for UPS. “We demonstrated the effectiveness of natural gas vehicles and fuel in 2017 by using 77 million total gallon equivalents in our ground fleet. UPS is a catalyst for wide scale adoption of natural gas vehicles.”