Largest US Bakery to Use Nat Gas in Fleet

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Susana Gonzalez/Bloomberg News

Bimbo Bakeries USA, the largest baker in the country, will begin using natural gas for some of its heavy-duty fleet in California.

The baker will operate 16 heavy-duty natural gas-powered trucks using fuel from Clean Energy Fuels Corp.’s compressed natural gas station network in Northern California, according to the fuel supplier.

Based on the success of the initial deployment, Bimbo expects to add natural gas-powered trucks nationwide.

“We are continuously looking for ways to reduce our greenhouse-gas emissions, and our collaboration with Clean Energy to deploy natural-gas trucks is an important step in our companywide green initiatives,” Jim McKeown, director of environment and sustainability for Bimbo Bakeries USA and Grupo Bimbo, said in a statement.



“As a leader in the baking industry, [Bimbo] understands that it has a responsibility to invest in and raise sustainability standards,” McKeown said.

The natural gas-powered trucks are expected to cut emissions by more than 580 metric tons, according to Clean Energy.

Bimbo distributes products through 12,000 sales routes nationwide and ranks No. 81on the Transport Topics Top100 list of private carriers in the United States, Canada and Mexico.