Amey’s 2009 business plan for reducing the carbon footprint of its internal and external vehicle and plant fleet is influencing people in high places.

A copy of the support service provider’s 50-page document ‘Transport and Travel: reducing our carbon footprint’ has been sent to transport secretary Geoffrey Hoon at his request. It makes interesting reading.

Amey produced almost 50,000 tonnes of carbon last year, of which 80% came from its transport activities. Its target is to reduce output in 2009 by 10% - no mean feat when the company is growing rapidly.

The strategy centres on supporting the growing green agenda (see panel) while understanding the commercial challenges.

“We can’t just spend loads of money on technology and make ourselves uncompetitive,” says Steve Helliwell, Amey Logistics managing director. “But there is a balance to achieve.”

That balance includes close management of the fleet requirements for each tender Amey wins to ensure it only buys or leases the vehicles it needs to deliver the service.

The process has been simplified since the introduction of a pool fleet of 200-250 vehicles. When it starts a new contract, Amey buys or contract hires half the vehicles it thinks it needs and supplements those with its own pool vehicles. That buys time to fully appraise vehicle requirements.

“It typically means we need fewer vehicles once we understand those requirements,” says Helliwell.

Amey also tries to keep to a standard vehicle specification. The company has its own vehicle catalogue which means the manufacturer does not need to alter its production line. It reduces costs for Amey and lowers the manufacturer’s carbon output.

Every time new vehicles are ordered, the policy is to buy or lease the latest engine technology. Amey was the first company to have an all Euro 5 fleet of gritters on its contract for Transport for London.

It has also sought to boost utilisation of its 300-strong fleet of gritters through a variety of initiatives. Some have been fitted with crash cushions so they can act as lane closers on highways; some are uni-bodied tipper trucks which can also carry sand and asphalt; others have quick change bodies with a chassis that can carry a flat bed truck or gritter body. It takes just 10 minutes to change the body.

“We try to make the fleet multi-purpose – it’s an £80,000 investment that is used 100 hours a year,” Helliwell says.

Utilisation is a common thread throughout the fleet policy. Amey has just agreed a new telematics deal with Masternault which it will roll out across the fleet during 2009. It presented a challenging tender for suppliers, according to Helliwell.

“Most people use telematics to see where their vehicles are at any time. They only get around 25% of the benefit of what the system can deliver, either through ignorance or because it delivers things they don’t actually want. We wanted a suit of information that would be available at the press of a button,” he says.

Utilisation was critical. Amey’s vehicles often only travel a few miles to a job that might take a couple of hours, before moving on to the next job.

“We had to ensure that our vehicles were used effectively for that level of utilisation – for example, if the utilisation is 20%, is it effective for that amount of time.”

The company has also tagged its heavy plant equipment, such as compressors, and its buildings with Radio Frequency Identity to understand their utilisation. It has improved productivity and efficiency.

The specialist vehicles present a big opportunity to cut carbon emissions, but the largest target area is the company car fleet.

Around 700 of the 1,300 employees who are entitled to a company car have taken the option; the other 600 have taken the car allowance. They are typically driving older and less efficient cars and Helliwell is keen to convert them into company cars. He has already scored some successes.

“Around three years ago the proportion of company cars to car allowance was the other way round,” he says.

“We’ve done a big push by offering more choice and more environmentally friendly cars. People feel responsible towards the environment – it’s a selling point.”

When Helliwell took over as MD three years ago, Vauxhall was the sole company car choice. He has extended the list to include Audi, BMW, Honda, Toyota and Volkswagen.
He negotiated with BMW to get its sub 120g/km 1-series and 3-series into grades where they became accessible to non-executives. A similar deal has been agreed with Audi, while Volkswagen has done roaring trade with the Bluemotion Golf.

Every vehicle grade now has a sub-120g/km option while Amey has capped CO2 at 160g/km for car grades and 225g/km for executives. Engine size has been limited to 2.5-litres.

In addition to low emission cars, Amey has a number of Honda Civic and Toyota Pruis hybrids and the electric Smart Ed on the fleet. And its alternative fuel aspirations don’t stop there. Amey is on the shortlist of companies to trial future air cars, which run on compressed air, when they come to market, possibly as early as this year.

The environmental policy runs through to hire cars. Amey has negotiated a deal with Europcar whereby the company mirrors its car choice list.

“We have reduced our CO2 emissions from car rental by 27% over the last 12-18 months,” says Helliwell.

Year-on-year Amey is improving its company car fleet fuel efficiency thanks to its focus on low emissions and hybrid models. This year the average is 54.2mpg; in 2007 it was 50.9mpg. Average CO2 emissions across the fleet are 140g/km; the target by April 2012 is 120g/km.

But the emissions and fuel efficiency plans don’t just stop at the company car fleet. Two years ago Amey purchased 12 electric transits from MODEC. It has faced concerns from drivers over whether they would have enough electricity at the end of a working day to get them home. It has affected utilisation.

The new telematics system will help to boost efficiency and will reveal how reliable the vehicles really are.

It’s a similar story with the 25 LPG Vauxhall vans. Although theLPG infrastructure is improving, it is still easier for drivers to fill up with diesel or petrol. As a result the vehicles are running on LPG for only 15-20% of the time; it should be closer to 80%. Telematics will help, but it’s predominantly about changing driver behaviour.

Amey has been tackling driver behaviour over the past four years through a variety of training programmes. They include:

Eco Driver training – 500 people have undertaken the course over the past couple of years; advanced driving course for high mileage drivers to improve their capabilities.

Reverse parking – policy introduced four years ago at all Amey offices; staff were given training. “Stats prove it’s safer,” says Helliwell.

Fuel awareness programme – launched last August for all company car and allowance staff to help reduce Amey’s £10 million annual spend on fuel. Each employee has an Arval fuel card which triggers a number of non-compliances, for instance, buying high volumes of fuel, not recording mileage, buying premium fuel and buying at too high a price. They get a letter advising of the non-compliance. Amey has been monitoring the system since the start of the year and, while it’s too early for figures, says fuel costs are falling.

It’s not all about the vehicles themselves. Eighteen months ago Amey introduced video conferencing to limit the travel of its management teams.

Helliwell admits it’s been a hearts and minds process to change behaviours, but it is making an impact. Last year, it held 106 video-conferences, saving £68,931 in fuel bills and reducing CO2 emissions by 19.3 tonnes.

“We are constantly challenged to have fewer vehicles, to reduce vehicle usage and to trial new technology,” says Helliwell.

“The measure of our success, in addition to meeting the CO2 reduction targets, is to win more work. Our strategy will reduce fleet costs so we can reduce our clients’ spend. That makes us more competitive with a high quality of service while balancing the green agenda.”

Cutting carbon emissions

Amey has a four-pronged approach to cutting its carbon output in 2009by 10% year-on-year, equivalent to 4,941 tonnes of CO2.

  • Drive differently
  • Speed limiters (fitted to all LCV over last 18 months – early stats show saving 12-15% on fuel costs), driver training and driver awareness
  • Drive less
  • Video conferencing, car share schemes with dedicated parking bays outside the buildings, GPS vehicle tracking, public transport routes to offices, cycle to work using the Government voucher scheme to buy tax-free bikes at Halfords
  • Driver better vehicles, electric and hybrid vehicles, greener company cars, Euro 5 policy, spray down mud flaps
  • Carbon offset. A tree for each vehicle leased, educate and inform public
     

Who is Amey?

Amey provides support services into three markets and it requires a large transport capability to provide those services.

1. Local Government – highway management and maintenance services

2. Inter Urban – design, managing and maintaining motorway and main roads. Also track for Network Rail

3. Build Environment – facilities and management to a number of central government offices, including the Home Office.

In addition to those three operating divisions, the company has a consulting operation and logistics, which oversees the transport division. Logistics is responsible for the external business, such as transporting people around and managing the supply chain, and the internal fleet.

The fleet

Name: Amey Logistics
Turnover: £100m
Business: Providing transport solutions to Amey
Head: Steve Helliwell, managing director
Size of fleet: 708 cars, 326 pool cars, 1,969 vans, 885 heavy goods vehicles. Also 35,000 items of plant and equipment
Company car replacement cycle three years
Size of car allowance scheme 601 vehicles