Calculating Fuel Usage and Emissions for Refrigerated Road Transport Using Real-World Data

Abstract

Road freight transportation is and will become increasingly important in all distribution chains. However, little research has analysed actual logistics service provider (LSP) data on a transport service level to determine fuel use and emissions in real-world scenarios. Subsequently, this article analyses 147 long-distance trips during which nearly 200 000 km were travelled, 3 693 tonnes of cargo were moved, and 84 588 litres of diesel fuel were burnt. In addition, 23 250 hours of refrigeration data were assessed. Based on the assessed data, a novel formula was developed that estimates the total fuel use (ℓ) of a transport service by incorporating the trailer type, route, load weight, empty distance, loaded distance and use and time duration of refrigeration with an average error of 6.7 %. This formula enables estimation of the total fuel use (ℓ), GHG emissions (kg CO₂e), carbon footprint (kg CO₂e/t cargo) and emission intensity factor (g CO₂e/t-km).