GreenLine to add 1,500 LNG trucks in India

The company, which is part of the Essar Group, aims to decarbonise heavy trucking in India and is leading the way in the adoption of LNG-powered freight transportation. LNG offers better fuel efficiency than diesel, which can lead to lower operating costs.

"By March 2024, GreenLine will have deployed 1,500 LNG-powered trucks," said Anand Mimani, CEO of GreenLine. "We currently have around 100-110 vehicles on the road, as well as 66 CNG and LNG tankers."

Mimani explained that the idea behind GreenLine was to decarbonise the entire logistics value chain. The company started out with CNG vehicles (Tata 151 and Eicher vehicles), which have a maximum weight carrying limit of 15 tonnes.

"We want to move LNG as a fuel and we are one of the biggest virtual pipeline movers of LNG in India," said Mimani. "It has been a good learning curve. We partnered with Shell and learnt a lot."

In terms of financing for LNG-powered trucks, Mimani said that the vehicles have so far been purchased through the company's equity.

"We are in talks with banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) that specialise in truck financing," he said. "We have just secured a small opening with one NBFC (TVS Credit), which has agreed to fund these vehicles. We are also in discussions with other banks, such as HDFC and ICICI."

Mimani added that a 55-tonne LNG truck can be used in a variety of industry segments, such as chemicals, metals, and FMCG.

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