BRITISH haulage business Chamberlain Transport has today (Tuesday 3rd December) announced that it has switched its local Palletforce collections and delivery vehicles to now be fuelled by hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) supplied by Certas Energy.
The family-owned company is expected to reduce its annual carbon emissions by more than 150 tonnes (150,000 kilograms) as a result of this change.
Chamberlain Transport plans to use the first six months of this partnership to trial HVO before considering a wider expansion to its fleet of 40 vehicles.
According to Chamberlain Transport’s Managing Director, Simon Chamberlain, this was a ‘straightforward decision’, designed to ‘shift the dial’ for other UK hauliers who are considering ways to decarbonise their fleets.
Domestic transport continues to be the UK’s largest emitting sector, responsible for 28 per cent of total greenhouse gas emissions in 2022, and proved to be an outlier compared to other sectors, rising by 1.6 per cent that year[1].
HVO is an alternative diesel produced from 100 per cent renewable waste and residue derived feedstocks which is capable of cutting carbon emissions by up to 90 per cent.
Demand for HVO in the UK has doubled in the past two years and Certas Energy anticipates this to continue to rise to roughly one billion litres by 2030.
Darren Holloway, Commercial Director for Energy Solutions at Certas Energy, said: “Chamberlain Transport is one of a growing number of hauliers turning to HVO in order to help meet short- and medium-term decarbonisation targets while transitioning to electric vehicles.
“This partnership demonstrates how seamless the transition can be from fossil diesel to renewable fuels, resulting in immediate carbon reduction benefits.
“We are pleased to see that the transport sector is increasingly choosing HVO as the necessary bridging solution for its journey to net zero.”
Simon Chamberlain, Managing Director at Chamberlain Transport, said: “We must start somewhere, so what better place than in your own back yard? By targeting the areas our trucks visit regularly, where we live, work and go to school, we can make our surroundings the cleanest possible for the people that matter most.
“Our commitment to future generations means that, unlike some competitors running older vehicles unable to run on this fuel, our local fleet is optimised for performance with reduced environmental impact. We hope this can help shift the dial with other hauliers across the UK and start a serious debate with our customers on the necessary sustainability and decarbonisation measures we should take.”
Switching to HVO has been one of several sustainability initiatives recently introduced by Chamberlain Transport, including achieving an EcoVadis Bronze award and installing solar panels on-site.
For more information about HVO, please visit this webpage.
[1] Figures taken from the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero’s 2022 UK Greenhouse Gas Emissions report (February 2024) – LINK
