CN: Intermodal helps keep America green
Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-ChiefCN unveiled an upgraded on-line calculator Wednesday, accessible at www.cn.ca/ghg_calculator, that estimates total carbon emissions for shipments using more than one mode of transportation.
CN said the new calculator "generates carbon-emission estimates for shipments using a combination of vessel, rail and truck — such as containers moving internationally from Asia to North American destinations along CN’s network — or domestic shipments using a combination of railand truck or a single mode of transportation.
Normand Pellerin, CN assistant vice-president, Environment, said: "Our enhanced GHG calculator is perfectly aligned with our transport products, giving manufacturers, importers, exporters, shippers, wholesalers, or retailers full understanding of the carbon footprint of shipments using single or multiple modes of transportation. And again, thecalculator makes clear the powerful green advantage of rail over truck."
CN also said that "rail has been shown to be up to six times more energy-efficient than heavy trucks, because rail consumes a fraction of the fuel to transport one [metric] ton of freight one kilometer. In fact, we can move one ton of freight 197 kilometers on just one liter of fuel."
