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Dedicated Fleets’ Push to Natural Gas Engines Speeding Up
Cost Parity, X15N Engine Boost Longhaul Carriers’ Appetite
Key Takeaways:
- Dedicated fleets and LTL carriers said at the ACT Expo in Las Vegas that renewable natural gas engines are increasingly viable for longhaul operations.
- Executives from FedEx Freight, J.B. Hunt and Midwest Logistics Systems cited cost parity with diesel, 15-liter engines and expanding fueling infrastructure as key advantages.
- Carriers including J.B. Hunt, Midwest Logistics Systems and Sagepoint Logistics said they plan to expand RNG-powered fleets as Cummins’ X15N engine gains adoption.
LAS VEGAS — Dedicated carriers are just as likely to benefit from adopting power units utilizing natural gas engines as their less-than-truckload peers, executives say.
A day after incoming FedEx Freight CEO John Smith said he expected a major bump in LTL carriers employing tractors with internal combustion engines fueled with renewable natural gas, dedicated fleet owners said such power units were ideal when they switch from diesel rigs, too.
FedEx Freight is using RNG-powered engines to cut its carbon intensity using proven engine platforms, said Smith, who helms the top-ranked LTL carrier. “It is a ready-now solution that fits the rigors of our duty cycles.”
Dedicated fleets, meanwhile, have the tools to meet longhaul customers’ needs with a 15-liter natural gas engine available, cost parity with diesel and adequate fueling infrastructure, attendees of the 2026 Advanced Clean Transportation Expo heard May 5.
“With the long length of routes that we operate, there’s not a lot of other alternative fuels that allow us to do what we need to do [beyond natural gas] and still allow our customers to reach their sustainability goals and their decarbonization efforts,” Midwest Logistics Systems co-founder and executive leader Dave DeMoss said.
Midwest Logistics Systems is a subsidiary of Schneider, which acquired the Celina, Ohio-based carrier in 2022. Schneider ranks No. 10 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest for-hire carriers in North America and No. 7 among truckload/dedicated carriers.
Midwest Logistics Systems will soon be operating about 100 longhaul power units with engines using natural gas, DeMoss said.
Ideal Operations
Dedicated routes, as well as intermodal or drayage operations, are ideal for natural gas powertrains, Jerrod Mounce, J.B. Hunt Transport Services vice president of energy and sustainability, said during the ACT Expo panel.
J.B. Hunt Transport Services ranks No. 3 on the for-hire TT100 and No. 2 among truckload/dedicated carriers.
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Mounce (with microphone) says dedicated routes are ideal for natural gas powertrains. (ACT Expo)
By the end of 2025, J.B. Hunt had around 200 compressed natural gas trucks, most with 12-liter engines. But over the previous 12 months, the carrier introduced 15-liter engines to its fleet, Mounce said at American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference & Exhibition in October.
Lowell, Ark.-based J.B. Hunt operates more than 22,000 trucks that are fueled 8,000 times a day. Biodiesel, renewable diesel and RNG accounted for 22% of the carrier’s total fuel by volume at the end of 2025, and Mounce told MCE attendees it planned to convert “hundreds more” trucks to RNG.
J.B. Hunt has a carbon diet methodology, testing all the alternative fuel solutions in the heavy-duty trucking space, measuring each option’s capabilities. RNG is cost-effective when matched up against diesel, he said during the ACT Expo panel.
Cost Parity
That cost parity was the case before a jump in diesel prices across the nation due to the conflict between Iran, Israel and the U.S. choked diesel flows around the globe, particularly the Strait of Hormuz.
It is even more so now, say executives, and mirrors why fleets first began to look at internal combustion engines powered by natural gas.
“When I first started looking at CNG, it was not an emissions reduction effort at all at that time,” said Mounce. “It was gas is cheap, diesel is expensive, so let’s look at buying gas instead of diesel fuel.” J.B Hunt began using trucks with engines fueled with natural gas around 20 years ago.
That positive, along with greater price stability, is a selling point to shippers, observers say. But fleets will benefit from reciprocal stability too.
“We’d like to deploy the renewable natural gas truck in the same route for many years to come,” said Paper Transport Chief Commercial Officer Jared Stedl, adding that avoiding a “52-card pickup every six months” through new bids was key.
Paper Transport ranks No. 97 on the for-hire TT100, No. 18 on the intermodal/drayage list and No. 32 among truckload/dedicated carriers.
De Pere, Wis.-based Paper Transport began operating trucks with ICE engines fueled with natural gas around 15 years ago, said Stedl, and has seen a real pickup in 2026.
X15N Engine Arrives
One reason for the pickup is because Cummins launched the X15N engine in 2024, with Freightliner and Paccar brands Peterbilt and Kenworth offering the engine as an option for flagship on-highway models. The three truck makers accounted for 65.6% of U.S. Class 8 retail sales in 2025, Omdia Automotive data shows.
Sagepoint Logistics revealed plans in April to launch a dedicated truckload carrier in June, with dry van trailers pulled solely by 60 Freightliner Cascadias equipped with X15N engines.
Carmel, Ind.-based Sagepoint will use RNG sourced directly from parent company Sagepoint Energy’s waste-to-energy plants.
RNG fueling options are also becoming plentiful. Clean Energy Fuels announced at ACT Expo that six new stations were now in operation in California, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Michigan and Washington state. Clean Energy alone has more than 600 RNG fueling locations.
Some 94% of all on-road fuel used in natural gas vehicles in the U.S. in 2025 was RNG, according to data from The Transport Project.
