greenlogistics
BY PETER BRADLEY, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
ALTERNATIVE FUELS IN LOGISTICS
green grocer
When wholesaler Central Grocers broke ground on a new DC, it opted for a
number of environmentally (and economically) attractive options. Among
them: hydrogen fuel cell-powered lift trucks.
WHEN CENTRAL GROCERS AND CERTIFIED GROCERS MIDWEST MERGED LAST YEAR, ONE
of the consequences was the need for a new distribution center to serve the combined networks.
The merged company, a member-owned wholesaler that continues to operate under the Central
Grocers name, is now serving more than 400 independently owned grocery stores in Chicagoland and
northwest Indiana—a big increase from what Central Grocers had served before. The merger also
shifted the geography somewhat, adding to the need to open a new DC.
To serve its expanded customer base, the company opted to build an all-new DC, a 960,000-square-
foot facility in Joliet, Ill. That facility opened last month.
Building from scratch gave the company the opportunity to look at the technologies it would
employ in the building with fresh eyes. As a result, it made several choices that not only are economically advantageous, but environmentally friendly as well.
Take, for example, the lift trucks the new facility is using.
The Central Grocers DC will be one of the few in the nation whose entire lift truck fleet will operate with hydrogen fuel cells.
Two-stage conversion
The decision to go with fuel cells may seem unusual for a grocery distributor. Grocers, whose margins
tend to be razor thin, are noted for the sharp pencils they bring to their purchasing. “The grocery industry runs on pennies,” says Kal Anglewicz, president of Yale Equipment & Services, the Rosemont, Ill.,
dealer that’s providing the lift trucks. “They cannot just do a green initiative unless it is cost justified.”
But Central Grocers’ analysis, along with tough negotiations, led to a deal that will pay off in long-term savings in operating costs, according to John Coari, vice president of operations for Central
Grocers. Coari took time to discuss the new facility and the lift-truck decision with DC VELOCITY while
traveling between facilities in the scramble prior to the new building’s opening.
During the analysis of what lift trucks the company would employ in the new facility and how they
would be powered, Central Grocers managers looked at several alternative fuel options, Coari said.
Eventually, they settled on hydrogen fuel cells and negotiated a deal with Plug Power, a developer of
alternative energy products. Plug Power is supplying the facility with 220 of its GenDrive fuel cell units
for use in the lift-truck fleet.
The GenDrive units make use of compressed hydrogen gas converted from liquid hydrogen. The liquid hydrogen storage system and fueling stations were supplied by Air Products, a company that provides atmospheric and specialty gases to a variety of industries.
The trucks themselves are being converted to hydrogen fuel cells in two stages. The first phase
included 140 Yale center-control pallet trucks. Those trucks went into operation with the GenDrive
fuel cell units when the new DC opened in April. The fleet also includes 41 reach trucks, 30 stand-up
