A.P. Moller-Maersk (Maersk) said it ordered 110 additional Volvo VNR Electric Class 8 trucks, increasing its total commitment to 126 trucks. The trucks will be delivered by the end of Q1 2023 to support increased demand from customers looking to green their fleet.
The new order builds on the company’s order in August last year of 16 Volvo VNR electric trucks as part of Maersk’s Environment Social Governance (ESG) strategy to decarbonize logistics. The strategy is a key driver for zero carbon operations in trucking and an important part of Maersk’s goal of enterprise-wide, carbon neutral operations by 2040 with significant steps to be taken by 2030.
“Our customers are looking for tangible actions on sustainable supply chains, not just conceptual,” Vincent Clerc, CEO of ocean and logistics at Maersk, said. “With this in mind, we move decisively toward building an end-to-end, landside decarbonization offering for our customers in line with our target to extend Maersk net-zero efforts to all transport modes in our global operation. These investments in our North America network will generate valuable experience for the continued journey towards similar customer offerings across the globe.”
Maersk expects to deploy 450 electric trucks in North America from various manufacturers through the end of next year.
“Maersk North America’s long-term goal is to move toward a fully electric trucking fleet to offer customers an environmentally friendly alternative for short-haul trucking,” Narin Phol, regional managing director for Maersk North America, said. “We recognize the Electric Vehicle technology is in the early stages and we’re committed to working closely with our partners to pilot and optimize the technology to scale it across our operations.”
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The Volvo Electric trucks will be used in Southern California for short-haul warehouse and distribution center operations. Electric charging infrastructure for Performance Team-A Maersk Company’s Santa Fe Springs, Calif., facility will be installed in April and May and be operational in June. The Volvo Electric trucks are built in Dublin, Va.
“Volvo Trucks, in partnership with our dealer TEC Equipment, is excited to continue collaborating with Maersk on its fleet sustainability goals and commends the organization’s continued scaled investments in electromobility solutions,” Peter Voorhoeve, president of Volvo Trucks North America, said. “Incredibly, this is the second time in less than a year that Volvo Trucks has had the opportunity to announce that a Maersk Company has placed the largest order of Volvo VNR Electrics to date, which underscores their organization’s commitment to reducing its carbon footprint.”
The order was prepared in collaboration with TEC Equipment, Volvo Trucks’ largest West Coast dealership and the first to achieve the Volvo Certified Electric Vehicle (EV) Dealer designation in North America. TEC Equipment’s Fontana and La Mirada locations in Southern California will support Maersk Distribution Services and Performance Team in maximizing the uptime of their Volvo VNR Electric fleets.