AWe have increased our use of intermodal over the last couple of years. We are hovering in the 10 percent
range, and we would want to expand that if the market is
favorable. Because the cost of one-way truckload service
has declined so dramatically this year, truck transport
has become more price-competitive relative to intermodal. We never exactly set a particular [modal-use] target
because we have to ensure that we are getting our product
to the shelf at the lowest possible cost, but we are very
committed to intermodal. It’s both an economic and a
sustainability play. Service consistency and reliability are
the keys. We need the railroads to continue to improve
service so we can continue to use more intermodal.
QWhat types of further improvements do you see Home Depot making on the sustainability front?
AWe will always be focused on reducing our use of par- cel and LTL to the extent we can and trying to build as
many truckloads as we can. In addition, we are interested
in testing alternative fuels like [liquefied natural gas] and
[compressed natural gas]. We haven’t quite gotten to that
yet, but we will continue to stay very focused on it. The
great thing about sustainability and transportation is that
everything we do to reduce costs results in environmental
improvements.
QTransportation accounted for about a quarter of all sources of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2014,
which was the last year for which EPA has full-year data. Is
there a percentage that transportation stakeholders should
realistically shoot for in terms of reducing emissions
caused by the movement of goods?
