Ascent On-Demand Renews with The U.S. EPA SmartWay® Transport Partnership

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Oct 10, 2023, 08:00 ET

The partnership furthers the company's commitment to its environmental sustainability goals

BELLEVILLE, Mich., Oct. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Ascent Global Logistics, a leading provider of technology-enabled, expedited logistics and supply chain solution services, today announced that it has received approval for its current data submission to the SmartWay® Transport Partnership, extending the commitment through September 2024.

In 2022, Ascent joined the SmartWay Transport Partnership, an innovative collaboration between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the industry that provides a framework to assess the environmental and energy efficiency of goods movement supply chains.

Through annual data evaluation of its U.S. On-Demand segment within its mission-critical ground transportation operations, Ascent continues its involvement as a Logistics Partner. Additionally, Ascent's Forwarding (Ascent Global Logistics International, LLC) and Brokerage (Ascent Global Logistics, LLC) segments have also become SmartWay Transport Partners, reflecting the company's holistic dedication to sustainability throughout its business operations.

Ascent's Provider Development team has worked diligently to onboard SmartWay carriers and advocate for existing carriers to join the SmartWay initiative. As a result, the company has increased its SmartWay carrier utilization by an impressive 29% and boosted its total SmartWay ton-miles by 63%. The company anticipates these numbers will continue to grow as it encourages more carriers within its network to become SmartWay partners.

Ascent will continue to contribute to the Partnership's savings of 357 million barrels of oil, $47.6 billion on fuel costs and 152 million metric tons of CO2, 2.7 million short tons of NOx and 112,000 short tons of PM. This is the equivalent of the annual electricity use in 23 million homes. By joining the SmartWay Transport Partnership, Ascent demonstrates its strong environmental leadership and corporate responsibility.

"We're delighted to announce the renewal of our SmartWay® Transport Partnership, reaffirming our dedication to sustainability in logistics across our business. This extension marks an exciting achievement for Ascent, highlighting our commitment to empowering our carriers to achieve both efficiency and environmentally conscious objectives," states Paul J. Martins, CEO of Ascent. "In this ongoing partnership, we aspire to further demonstrate our company's focus on environmental responsibility and our determination to lead the way in promoting a greener future for our industry."

Developed jointly in early 2003 by EPA and Charter Partners represented by industry stakeholders, environmental groups, American Trucking Associations, and Business for Social Responsibility, this innovative program celebrated its 10-year anniversary in 2014. Partners rely upon SmartWay tools and approaches to track and reduce emissions and fuel use from goods movement. The Partnership currently has nearly 4,000 Partners, including shippers, logistics companies, truck, rail, barge and multimodal carriers.

"Our commitment to increasing our SmartWay carrier base is beyond meeting sustainability goals; it's a testament to our support for our carriers," says Kevin O'Brien, Vice President of Solutions Support and Customer Care at Ascent. "We understand that by promoting eco-friendly practices in transportation, we contribute to substantial SmartWay Partnership savings and enable our carriers to thrive in a more sustainable future. Through this initiative, we are encouraging more carriers within our network to become SmartWay partners and drive positive change in logistics."

About Ascent Global Logistics

Ascent, headquartered in Belleville, Michigan, is a leading global provider of expedited, time-critical logistics solutions and other direct transportation services. The Company connects customers to its extensive carrier network, internal ground fleet and airline via its proprietary, digital PEAK freight marketplace, which provides robust carrier capacity and transparent pricing, backed by 24/7/365 logistics experts. Ascent's offerings include air charter and ground expedited solutions as well as truckload, less-than-truckload, global forwarding, brokerage, and managed transportation services. The experienced Ascent team solves customers' most challenging logistics needs by providing industry-leading service and top-tier satisfaction. To learn more, visit www.ascentlogistics.com.

For information about the SmartWay Transport Partnership visit www.epa.gov/smartway.

SOURCE Ascent