Walmart Canada introduces new multi-temperature refrigerated trailer

Global retail giant Walmart said its Walmart Canada segment recently rolled out a new 60-foot, multi-temperature refrigerated trailer, which the company said is one of the first of its kind for the company in North America.

The company observed in a blog posting written by Walmart Canada Corporate Affairs Manager Stephanie Fusco that this trailer allows the company to ship more freight to stores in a single trip, providing improved efficiency within its supply chain, as well as fewer CO2 emissions.

In terms of how this new trailer can drive efficiency gains, Fusco noted in the blog that when departing the Walmart Mississauga distribution center, for its stores in Windsor and Woodstock, the temperature-refrigerated trailer can fit as many as 30 pallets of perishable goods, like meat and dry/wet produce, requiring different temperatures.

“For context, a standard 53-foot trailer can fit about 26 pallets,” wrote Fusco. “The increased capacity and multi-temperature zones provide the flexibility to service our stores in the most efficient manner by pairing certain stops together that would not normally ship on the same trailer.”

Aaron Ritter, Director of Transportation at Walmart Canada, told LM that a key driver for this new trailer was due to Walmart targeting zero emissions globally by 2040 without the use of offsets.

“We know that innovative and efficient transportation solutions are essential to achieving our sustainability goals,” said Ritter. “Back in 2012, we launched our first pilot program with our 60-foot ‘super cube’ trailer, and since then have continued to work with organizations and manufacturers across the province on additional ways in which we can leverage custom-built solutions to bring efficiency and savings to our customers. The introduction of our new 60-foot refrigerated trailer is just one of the ways that we’ve created customized solutions to our transportation needs.”

In terms of the benefits this trailer provides for Walmart, from an operational and efficiency perspective, Ritter explained that it allows Walmart additional flexibility, in terms of how it ships product and plans routes.

As an example, he said Walmart Canada is able to make fewer overall trips by pairing certain stores at a variety of temperatures, which allows Walmart Canada to expand its capacity more than ever before and helps to reduce carbon emissions by having less mileage and/or fewer trucks on the road.

In the blog posting, Walmart Canada’s Fusco said that in 2012, Walmart initiated a pilot program with the Ontario Ministry of Transportation to introduce 60-foot trailers to Ontario’s roads. And she added that this Special Vehicle Configuration Permit pilot was successful and helped to open the door for organizations across the province to improve productivity by reducing the number of trips required to move lighter, bulkier cargo.

When asked if Walmart plans to use these types of trailers outside of Canada, Ritter said that given the success of Walmart’s Special Vehicle Configuration Permit pilot with the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, Walmart hopes to similarly collaborate with public officials and the trucking industry to address future challenges to emissions and safety with innovative approaches in other markets.

“While we’re excited to be able to reduce the number of trucks on the road and therefore decrease our carbon footprint, we’ve always said that sustainability is not a competitive advantage—we’ll share the knowledge and technology put into this truck with anyone who’s interested in order to have the greatest impact on protecting the environment,” said Ritter. “Our ability to ship up to 30% more product not only benefits the environment, but it also reduces transportation costs which is a savings that we can pass along to our customers.”