RANCHO DOMINGUEZ, CA – Vic La Rosa, president of Total Transportation Services, Inc. (TTSI), a drayage, warehouse and transportation company in Rancho Dominguez, Calif., is helping bring cleaner air to the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and surrounding areas that the fleet serves.

TTSI is operating eight Kenworth T800 liquefied natural gas (LNG) trucks, the first alternative-fuel vehicles to operate in full-time drayage service at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach under the major Clean Trucks Program.

“We all have a responsibility to protect our environment,” said La Rosa. “I’m delighted that TTSI took a lead role to put our new Kenworth T800 LNG trucks into service to help reduce emissions and provide cleaner air at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and in the region.”

The eight Kenworth T800s are equipped with the LNG fuel system developed by Westport Innovations Inc. of Vancouver, B.C., and installed on the Cummins ISX 15L engine. The Kenworth trucks have Westport’s High Pressure Direct Injection (HPDI) technology and use five percent diesel and 95 percent natural gas to power the drivetrain. Running on clean, low-carbon LNG fuel, TTSI will realize greenhouse gas emission reductions of approximately 20 percent and nitrogen oxide emissions reductions of over 75 percent compared to the diesel vehicles being replaced, according to Westport Innovations.

La Rosa said TTSI expects drivers to realize significant savings in their fuel costs since liquefied natural gas costs about 25 percent less per gallon than diesel fuel. Also, it appears the LNG trucks travel about the same or greater distance on natural gas as the company’s diesel-powered trucks on a comparable amount of diesel fuel, he said.

The new Kenworth T800 LNG trucks are working so well that TTSI will take delivery of 30 more later this summer, and plans to eventually replace half of its 300-truck fleet with the alternative fuel trucks. The Kenworth T800 LNG engine has 450-hp and delivers 1,650 lb.-ft. of torque.