BELLEVILLE, Mich. — Ascent Global Logistics has received approval for its current data submission to the SmartWay Transport Partnership, extending the commitment through September 2024.
In 2022, Ascent joined the SmartWay Transport Partnership, a collaboration between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the industry that provides a framework to assess the environmental and energy efficiency of goods movement supply chains.
“Through annual data evaluation of its U.S. On-Demand segment within its mission-critical ground transportation operations, Ascent continues its involvement as a logistics partner,” a news release stated. “Additionally, Ascent’s Forwarding (Ascent Global Logistics International, LLC) and Brokerage (Ascent Global Logistics, LLC) segments have also become SmartWay Transport Partners, reflecting the company’s holistic dedication to sustainability throughout its business operations.”
Ascent’s Provider Development team has worked to onboard SmartWay carriers and advocate for existing carriers to join the SmartWay initiative, the news release noted.
As a result, the company has increased its SmartWay carrier utilization by an impressive 29% and boosted its total SmartWay ton-miles by 63%. The company anticipates these numbers will continue to grow as it encourages more carriers within its network to become SmartWay partners.
Ascent will continue to contribute to the partnership’s savings of 357 million barrels of oil, $47.6 billion on fuel costs and 152 million metric tons of CO2, 2.7 million short tons of NOx and 112,000 short tons of particulate matter, according to the news release.
This is the equivalent of the annual electricity use in 23 million homes.
“We’re delighted to announce the renewal of our SmartWay Transport Partnership, reaffirming our dedication to sustainability in logistics across our business. This extension marks an exciting achievement for Ascent, highlighting our commitment to empowering our carriers to achieve both efficiency and environmentally conscious objectives,” said Paul J. Martins, CEO of Ascent. “In this ongoing partnership, we aspire to further demonstrate our company’s focus on environmental responsibility and our determination to lead the way in promoting a greener future for our industry.”
Developed jointly in early 2003 by EPA and charter partners represented by industry stakeholders, environmental groups, American Trucking Associations and Business for Social Responsibility, the program celebrated its 10-year anniversary in 2014.
The partnership currently has nearly 4,000 members, including shippers, logistics companies, truck, rail, barge and multimodal carriers.
“Our commitment to increasing our SmartWay carrier base is beyond meeting sustainability goals; it’s a testament to our support for our carriers,” says Kevin O’Brien, Vice President of Solutions Support and Customer Care at Ascent. “We understand that by promoting eco-friendly practices in transportation, we contribute to substantial SmartWay Partnership savings and enable our carriers to thrive in a more sustainable future. Through this initiative, we are encouraging more carriers within our network to become SmartWay partners and drive positive change in logistics.”
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