How Greening-Up Your Fleet Can Save Your Business Money

As a business owner your bottom line is very important and saving money wherever you can is vital to increasing profit in an increasingly challenging trading environment.  With this in mind, it's important that you keep logistics costs down when shipping goods across the country or state.

Although green fleet management is probably not an area you would consider as that crucial to your business, a shipping consultant may recommend that you take a closer look, as making your business fleet run greener is an important cost-effective strategy. 

Here are some great tips to make your fleet greener and keep your logistics costs down.

Look closely at your vehicles

Vehicles with low CO₂ emissions will mean lower road tax and National Insurance contributions.  These days, hybrid and low emission vehicles boast performance which is just as good as gas-guzzling beasts and are also much cheaper to run.

Look closely at alternative fuel vehicles.  Although they may be more expensive to acquire, reduced running costs over time should offset this and they're much better for the environment.

Large vehicles are now available with aerodynamically designed cabs, meaning less resistance and greener running, especially over long distances.  Next time you upgrade your fleet, it may be worth considering changing over to vehicles with this design.

 Alternatives to corporate travel

In addition to your HGV and LGV fleet, you should look carefully at your other vehicles when considering greener options.  There may be occasions when you don't actually need to travel at all; a video conference may be more cost effective for example, saving you fuel and wear and tear on your vehicles.

Driver training

Make sure that all employees who use company vehicles are aware and informed about fuel-efficient driving practices.  Promote environmentally-friendly driver training among staff using company vehicles, and encourage company drivers not to make unnecessary or excessive journeys.  Utilise route planning tools, including websites to minimise vehicle mileage and equip all your drivers with up to date satellite navigation equipment to make sure that the most fuel efficient routes are used and congestion is avoided.

In conclusion

All these ideas are cost-effective and simple to implement and could make a big difference to the way your business uses its fleet and manages the logistics of shipping goods around the country or state.  For more advice and information on green fleet operation practices, in may be helpful to have a chat with your shipping consultant.

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