Gypsum industry news

UK/Ireland: Knauf UK and Ireland’s haulage contractor Nicholls has switched to using renewably generated liquefied natural gas (LNG) to power its trucks. The transition should reduce Knauf’s Scope 3 emissions generated by transporting its raw materials and products. Knauf’s emissions from deliveries represent roughly 23% of all Scope 3 emissions for the UK business.

Nicholls started trialling LNG powered trucks in 2018 and then built a local refuelling site. It currently uses 29 trucks that run on LNG. The haulage company still uses diesel power vehicles for some routes depending on distance and infrastructure.

UK: British Gypsum has started converting its heavy-good vehicle fleet fuel source to the biofuel Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) from diesel. The subsidiary of France-based Saint-Gobain expects to use 75,000l/week of HVO. This means that around 40% of its UK fleet will now operate on HVO fuel, with a further 10% using Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). The use of multi-fuelled vehicles at this scale is expected to reduce its carbon emissions by approximately 70% year-on-year.

To support the implementation of HVO vehicles, the company has made several upgrades to site infrastructure that include a HVO refuelling point at its Robertsbridge plant and a new fuel island capable of delivering 110,000l/week at its distribution centre in Gotham.

UK: Freight transportation services provider XPO Logistics has started taking delivery of 76 Volvo FM trucks that will be used exclusively on the company's contract with British Gypsum. 23 of the tractor units are Volvo FM LNG models running on bio-generated liquefied natural gas. The other 53 Volvo FM trucks will be fuelled with hydrotreated vegetable oil. The vehicles are expected to reduce their greenhouse gases emissions by 90% compared to diesel tractors giving a total network reduction of 30%.

Brian Fisher, Head of Distribution at British Gypsum, said "Our new fleet of vehicles underlines our commitment to ensuring that our products are delivered to customers in an efficient, secure, safe and sustainable way, whilst further improving welfare standards for our drivers. The latest investment signifies yet more progress as we continue on our journey to being net carbon zero by 2050 and highlights our continued commitment to the Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme (FORS) and Construction Logistics and Community Safety (CLOCS) status."

The Volvo trucks will form part of British Gypsum's single, integrated transportation network, digitally managed by XPO. They will deliver building supplies to a broad customer base and will transport stock and materials including plaster, wallboard and high-performance drylining systems – between British Gypsum's five production plants. The Volvo FM LNG trucks will refuel at Gasrec's site at Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal.

UK: British Gypsum and CEVA Logistics have introduced a new fleet of 85 Volvo tractor units. CEVA will operate the new fleet transporting British Gypsum's interior lining systems from five plants to over 3500 stockists.

The new vehicles include safety features such as extra-low ride height for reducing blind spots and increasing visibility levels, an advanced camera system, anti-roll and drive away prevention device, full telematics and additional nearside vision panels in the passenger door. All trucks are fully FORS (Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme) Gold compliant. In addition, trucks have audible left turn alarms, mobile CCTV camera systems and anti-spill fuel tanks. CEVA is a FORS Gold carrier while British Gypsum is a CLOCS compliant supplier (Construction Logistics and Community Safety).

"As a business, we always put safety first and in our case that means keeping our drivers and the communities in which they operate, safe. We have a desire to be the safest road transport network in the UK and these new high-tech, best-in-industry vehicles will help us to achieve that vision," said Brian Fisher, Distribution Manager at British Gypsum.