Driven to Be Different: Energy Transportation Group Continues to Grow with PacLease

What were you doing at the age of 27?

If you were Shawn Girard or Michael Cinquino, you were starting a 3PL brokerage company that would disrupt others in the industry. Their young age didn’t hinder them, instead they used it as an advantage to offer new and innovative approaches. It was a new breed of energy and it not only led to its name -- Energy Transportation Group, but to its tag line: “Driven to be different isn’t just our slogan, it’s part of our DNA.”

After one of its largest clients told the company that in order to continue working with them, they’d need trucks of their own, the company bought a fleet of trucks. “That was back in 2010 shortly after we first started the company, and after we got those first units, we decided to go all-in and expand our offerings,” said Girard, who serves as CEO.  

That led to the start of Energy Express – dry vans for full truckload, LTL, and expedited deliveries throughout Canada and the United States. “Then, in 2015 we launched our fastest growing division, Energy Fresh, which runs driver teams from Quebec to California and back,” said Melanie Simard, Energy Transportation Group’s safety and compliance manager. 

According to Simard, full-service leasing has always been a part of the mix for Energy Transportation Group. “We’ve never had our own shop,” she said. “Full-service leasing gives us the flexibility of not having to incur additional expenses for full-service garages, shop supplies, mechanics, and so forth. Through leasing, that’s on the shoulders of our leasing company.”

In 2019, Energy Transportation began shifting its business to PacLease Montreal, leasing 18 Kenworth T680s with 76-inch high roof sleepers for its Energy Fresh division. The tractors, tethered to refrigerated trailers, take general freight or frozen goods to California and the western U.S., and returns with produce back to Quebec. The 6,000 mile-plus round trip takes 6-days to complete and the driver teams help ensure fresh produce is available for Quebec consumers. The teams make three trips per month, which allows time for PacLease to handle preventive maintenance between runs.

“With produce having such a short shelf life, our top priority is running reliable equipment,” said Simard. “Our teams can be running up to 22 hours a day, and they can get loads back to Quebec in as little as 60 hours. Our drivers are paid to roll, so we can’t be sitting with a downed vehicle. The reliability we get with our Kenworths, and the support we get with PacLease and their network of service locations, has been great. Due to the nature of trucking, things can and do go wrong, it’s why a strong support network is so important and PacLease has that.”

While reliable equipment was first and foremost the top concern, economics played a part as well in the decision to go with PacLease. That’s where lease terms and custom spec’ing for fuel economy came into play. PacLease created a contract with the mileage requirements that met the business needs. It showed they had confidence in how well their trucks would hold up, and the preventive maintenance programs they had in place in order to keep the trucks running. They were also very proactive in working with us on spec’ing, especially for fuel economy. Not all leasing companies can do what PacLease does, and they worked with us to come up with specs that work best for our operation. So far, we’ve seen our fuel economy savings increase by nearly 12 percent. That’s been accomplished in various ways.”

According to Matthew Ladd, the lease representative for PacLease Montreal, the spec’d combination of the engine, torque with weight savings were critical for maximizing fuel economy across flatlands and hills.  “Plus we added full fairings on the passenger side to maximize aerodynamics. On the driver’s side we needed to maintain back of cab access, so we used integral steps to maximize the aerodynamics as compared to a partial fairing set up with steps on the frame.”

The Kenworth T680s were also spec’d with Kenworth Predictive Cruise Control with Smart Coast, which boosts fuel economy by more than 1 percent. Through topographical GPS, the truck senses hills and modulates the cruising speed and shift points to the most-fuel efficient speed. The smart coast function puts the truck in neutral after cresting the hill to improve fuel economy even further.  

“Predictive cruise was totally new to our drivers, so we needed to educate them on the benefit of the system, and how the technology worked,” said Simard. “PacLease came in and gave us a full tutorial, which we then relayed to our drivers in the field. That’s part of being a great partner – they understand our DNA.”

Another important part of saving fuel, and lowering its carbon footprint, has been with the spec’ing of the Kenworth Idle Management System. “Even though we run teams, we still had idling,” said Simard. “There are a few hours a day when the truck is not running, plus other times they’re waiting on produce to be processed and loaded.”

The battery-operated HVAC system has helped lower idle time from nearly 25 percent to around 6 percent. “And, some of our drivers are down to 1 or 2 percent,” said Simard. “This is a drop of about 95 percent in idling time. Our drivers are totally onboard with saving fuel, and they’re rewarded with fuel bonuses. This way, everyone wins.”

The Kenworths are also helping Energy Transportation Group’s quest to find more drivers as the company continues to grow. “I get calls from drivers who have seen our trucks on the road,” said Simard. “They tell me we have the nicest equipment out there, and ask if we have any openings. The trucks are really moving billboards for us, and it’s why we allow our drivers to wash the trucks while on the road. The image our trucks project help with recruiting, and our customers take notice too. They know we’re a very high quality company, running very high quality equipment.”

Since PacLease and the Kenworth T680s have proven themselves in the long haul part of Energy Transportation’s business, the company has taken delivery of six more T680s, configured as day cabs.

“Those trucks are now going into service in Montreal,” explained Simard. “As our trucks in the Energy Fresh Express division come back from California, they drop the loaded trailer at a customer location, or at a warehouse. We then use the new PacLease trucks as shuttle vehicles doing pick up and delivery, plus they’re utilized with our Energy Express division. They’re making us more efficient.”  

It’s all in line with the philosophy of Energy Transportation Group’s president, Michael Cinquino, who said:  “We started Energy because we wanted to create a company that was built off our fundamental values. It’s not enough to get something from point A to point B, we strive to provide an unparalleled service. We look for innovative and reliable solutions that can be integrated efficiently and sustainably for all of our business partners.”