ANN ARBOR, Mich. --- Con-way Freight, one of the nation's leading less-than-truckload (LTL) freight transportation companies, announced it has turned back the speed governors on its 8,400-tractor fleet in a move to improve fuel conservation and reduce carbon emissions.

The company has adjusted the governors on its truck engines to run at a maximum of 62 miles per hour, down three miles per hour from previous settings.

The move is expected to reduce consumption of diesel fuel from its over-the-road tractor fleet by nearly 3.2 million gallons annually while eliminating approximately 72 million pounds of carbon emissions from the environment. The carbon gas reduction is equivalent to removing nearly 7,300 automobiles from America's highways.

"Freight transportation, by its nature, is a significant consumer of carbon-based energy resources. Yet it also is one where if we look creatively at how we operate the business, we can find and adopt practices that reduce our carbon footprint and help the bottom line," said John G. Labrie, Con-way Freight president. "Fuel conservation and cost savings aside, this speed reduction initiative will have the single largest impact on carbon footprint reduction of any operational or business practice change available to us." 

"I commend Con-way Freight for integrating clean, innovative strategies and technologies into its fleet operations to reduce energy use and meet its SmartWay environmental commitments," said Margo T. Oge, director of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of Transportation and Air Quality.

Con-way Freight has been a member of the EPA's SmartWay Transport Program since 2006. SmartWay is a voluntary partnership between the EPA and freight industry businesses aimed at reducing emissions of carbon dioxide by 33 to 66 million metric tons and nitrogen oxide by up to 200,000 tons, as well as saving up to 150 million barrels of oil per year. The program officially opened to all companies in February 2004.

Con-way Freight annually consumes some 100 million gallons of diesel fuel in its trucking operations, which serve commercial and industrial businesses and cover all of North America through a network of more than 400 operating locations. In addition to the speed reduction initiative, Con-way Freight has also invested in technologies and implemented other operational practices designed to reduce fuel consumption, which also lowers carbon emissions. Among them:

* Equipping trucks with special aerodynamic fairings to reduce wind resistance and improve fuel efficiency

* Specifying engine and drive-train combinations that maximize fuel mileage and peak power requirements

* Using special engine and transmission lubricants to improve operating efficiency and fuel mileage

* Setting engines with auto shut-off controls to minimize idle time while parked

* Recycling used trailers and refurbishing them for return to the fleet through its sister company, Road Systems Inc., versus buying new trailers, thereby minimizing consumption of new resource materials.

The company has also converted its fuel sources to 100 percent ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel which, when burned, emits fewer particulates and combusted by-products.