Shell has partnered with the global non-profit Smart Freight Centre, sponsoring the delivery of the sustainable freight expert’s Smart Transport Manager Training (STMT). The training program – initially available online – will educate fleet managers on how best to reduce carbon emissions, increase efficiencies and cut costs throughout their entire supply chain.

To date, fleet managers that have implemented some of the measures have reported a 5% to 20% fuel-efficiency improvement and reduced fleet operating costs.

The program has been put together by industry experts and covers five modules over a four-hour online course. Modules educate fleet managers on the latest methodologies and technologies offered to transport fleets, providing them with the theoretical knowledge needed, as well as an individualized Smart Action Plan to help put these ideas into practice.

Troy Chapman, Vice President, Global Marketing B2B & OEM Lubricants at Shell Lubricant Solutions, said: “Our partnership with Smart Freight Centre is the latest step in our journey toward greater industry collaboration in an attempt to help industries meet the goals of global sustainability legislation. When it comes to the transport industry – where emissions are increasingly being placed under the microscope – sustainability begins with fleet managers. Recent Frost & Sullivan research shows that 70% of fleets are committed to forwarding sustainability goals, and we believe that STMT can help to provide the platform for them to do so.”

Bonne Goedhart, Business Development Manager at Smart Freight Centre, said: “The support of Shell Lubricants for our Smart Transport Manager Training allows us to reach an even bigger market and help to reduce GHG emissions in the road freight industry. This is vital because road freight contributes to 62% of logistics GHG emissions. We need to act now. For Smart Freight Centre, it is important that all players in the global freight sector work together towards zero emissions by 2050.”

Commercial road freight’s share of total international trade-related emissions is projected to grow from 53% in 2010 to 56% by 2050. To reduce this, in line with international climate agreements and Shell’s own effort to become a net-zero energy supplier by 2050, more must be done to encourage industry partners and clients to enact more effective sustainability measures. Through a range of related topics – from fuel and lubricant choice to performance monitoring – STMT aims to accelerate knowledge sharing and technology dissemination, helping to achieve Smart Freight Centre’s goal of reducing the carbon emissions of multinationals and logistics specialists across the globe.

Jeff Priborsky, Global Marketing Manager, On-Highway Fleet Sector at Shell, said: “Fleets are under growing pressure to decarbonize, but their business and operational goals haven’t changed, so they want to know how sustainability can be achieved without compromising performance. We know the pressures that fleet managers are faced with in this current social and legislative climate and so STMT is a means of helping them to fulfil their financial and performance-related responsibilities, while also contributing to the larger aim of developing a more sustainable industry environment”.

The online modules of STMT are currently available for fleet managers worldwide, with the rollout of in-person training across the EU and US set to follow in 2021. Online modules will cover:

• Fuels and lubricants: How fuel and lubricants choice can influence emissions and costs.  

• Drivers: How fleets and drivers can change their behaviour to radically reduce emissions, fuel costs and even maintenance requirements.  

• Vehicles: How fleets can maximise utilisation and minimise emissions by choosing exactly the right vehicle type for the task at hand. 

• Performance monitoring: How fleets can accurately measure and track their emissions using the right tools and a robust and consistent methodology.  

• Information technology: How fleets can reduce their environmental impact and overheads using telematics, onboard monitoring and other technologies.