ArcBest champions freight sustainability with City Route Optimization technology

ArcBest was selected as a 2024 EPA SmartWay Leader in the Information System and Data Innovation category for our less-than-truckload City Route Optimization (CRO) technology. This award honors companies driving change, impacting industry operations, leading freight efficiency performance and sustaining freight environmental excellence.

ArcBest developed and implemented City Route Optimization for our ABF LTL network to optimize operations by increasing productivity, improving customer experiences and reducing environmental impact. Created internally by our expert teams of data scientists and operational specialists, CRO uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to create algorithms that build optimized city routes by leveraging legacy knowledge and information on existing routes.

“Implementing CRO has transformed ABF’s city operations, making LTL deliveries more efficient and enabling us to better serve new and existing customers,” said Matt Godfrey, ABF Freight president. “Using CRO, we’re optimizing routes, increasing efficiency and better deploying our ABF fleet to offer the right capacity at the right time, and helping support our customers’ sustainability initiatives. It’s a distinguished honor to be on the EPA’s inaugural SmartWay Leaders list, recognizing our actions and progress in freight sustainability.”

Since fully implementing CRO, ABF has seen positive business impacts, including denser city routes, fewer miles driven, less fuel consumption, reduced carbon footprint and increased productivity. As a result of enhanced route optimization, the company saved $13.5 million in 2024, with more savings anticipated in 2025.

Award methodology

This recognition included a competitive selection process, and applications were evaluated on a point system that considered:

  • Clarity and completeness of application responses
  • Quality and substance of summaries and descriptions
  • Evidence, proof or documentation that substantiates submissions
  • Actual achievements, innovative actions, emissions reductions, fuel savings, as well as impact and influence

EPA SmartWay accepted self-nominations from partner companies and affiliate organizations about efforts and accomplishments. Candidates were also screened for any adverse environmental actions.

About U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) mission is to protect human health and the environment. EPA works to ensure that Americans have clean air, land and water; national efforts to reduce environmental risks are based on the best available scientific information; federal laws protecting human health and the environment are administered and enforced fairly, effectively and as Congress intended; environmental stewardship is integral to U.S. policies concerning natural resources, human health, economic growth, energy, transportation, agriculture, industry, and international trade, and these factors are similarly considered in establishing environmental policy; all parts of society—communities, individuals, businesses, and state, local and tribal governments—have access to accurate information sufficient to effectively participate in managing human health and environmental risks; contaminated lands and toxic sites are cleaned up by potentially responsible parties and revitalized; and chemicals in the marketplace are reviewed for safety.