Reducing Transportation Emissions - The Safe Handling Approach

Our core business is transporting raw materials to Maine’s industrial plants. These raw materials include: baking flour, plastic pellets, fuels, and liquid chemicals. A typical liquid chemical would be made of 25% solids and 75% water. Without Safe Handling, it would typically be trucked across the country. We replace this approach with one that helps customers reduce emissions 4 ways:

Rail uses 70% less fuel than trucking
We help customers replace long-haul trucking with long-haul rail. Then we transload from railcars onto trucks in our rail yards for local deliveries by truck. Customers still receive product by truck, but most of the cross-country trip is made by rail.

Shipping dry vs wet can reduce volumes 4-fold
Instead of shipping liquid slurries long distances, we ship dry chemicals which we reconstitute into a liquid slurry here in Maine, near the point-of-use. This reduces emissions another 75%.

Tri-axle trucks use 30% less fuel
We use larger trucks within northern New England than truckers from distant states are allowed to. This means we can empty a rail car in 3 truckloads vs 4, which reduces emissions another 30%.

Biodiesel reduces carbon emissions
We fuel our fleet with biodiesel which further reduces our carbon footprint.

Leveraging these four approaches, we can reduce emissions and fuel costs nearly 90%.

By leveraging all of our services, customers can cut transportation costs by up to 50% and reduce transportation emissions by up to 90%.