CINCINATTI – Sunny Delight Beverages Co. and Transplace, a transportation management services and logistics technology provider, announced the successful implementation of a compressed natural gas (CNG) fleet in Southern California. The CNG fleet has effectively lowered greenhouse gas emissions and reduced fuel costs for the beverage company.

The five-year arrangement transports Sunny Delight products to customers across the Southern California market to cities such as Los Angeles, Mira Loma, Carson, and Riverside. To date, the program has met the company’s goals; and long-term, Sunny Delight expects the transition from diesel power to CNG fuel for its fleet operations will result in substantially fewer greenhouse gas emissions and reduced transportation costs.

“Transplace, our strategic logistics partner, helped us find the best way to take advantage of alternative-fuel source savings in our network,” said Ellen Iobst, senior vice president, manufacturing and technology and chief sustainability officer at Sunny Delight. “Sunny Delight has always been a forward-thinking company in the area of sustainability, and our move into the compressed natural gas arena supports our continued efforts. Transplace has executed a transportation plan that has supported our sustainability initiatives without adding costs.”

Transplace has been a long-time provider for Sunny Delight, and this newest sustainability partnership came to light during the 2011 Shipper Symposium, an annual Transplace-hosted event focused on sharing innovation and best practices between Transplace customers, partners, and industry leaders. Sunny Delight’s CEO Billy Cyr spoke at the conference, and while networking with Transplace and Clean Energy Fuels he recognized a sustainable opportunity that would also positively impact his company’s bottom line.

“We actively support Sunny Delight with the strategy and execution for leading-edge transportation management,” said Clint Dearing, Transplace director of operations. “But we also support their culture and business goals. Transplace developed a focused plan to assist Sunny Delight’s desire to more sustainably bring its products to market. They wanted a solution that would be better for the environment while also making economic sense, and we were able to help Sunny Delight find and implement the best of both worlds.”

Clean Energy estimates a greenhouse gas savings of 23 percent on CNG versus diesel-powered engines when looking at the fuel from extraction to tailpipe. In addition, Sunny Delight’s network stands to save an estimated 400,000 gallons of diesel fuel in 2012 due to the conversion to CNG in Southern California.