Less than a week after saying it was "keeping our options" open about liquefied natural gas markets like Jacksonville, Pivotal LNG announced its presence here.
The company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Atlanta-based AGL Resources, has entered into a second contract with UPS Inc. to provide alternative fuel for its Jacksonville fleet operations.
Pivotal's first contract with the global shipping, logistics and supply chain management giant was similar in scope to provide the fuel to operations in Nashville and Knoxville, Tenn.
By the end of September, the company's local operations will have 128 trucks using liquefied natural gas as their operating fuel, a UPS representative said last week at a Clean Energy Fuels Corp. fuel station ribbon-cutting event.
UPS has a regional distribution center on the Westside.
"Our tractors operate on high-mile routes in the southern regions," Mike Casteel, UPS director of fleet procurement, said in a news release. "Pivotal is providing the LNG fuel supply we require to meet the needs of our LNG tractor fleet in key locations."
UPS will build its own LNG fueling stations in Jacksonville, said Annette Martinez, AGL Resources director of external relations.
And, with no facility nearby, Pivotal will be trucking in supply from other LNG facilities. That includes the one it owns in Trussville, Ala., according to Martinez.
Asked if there were any plans to build a large-scale facility — similar to the one Clean Energy announced last year and JEA is considering — Martinez said the company was "keeping its options open."
Such terminals receive natural gas from a pipeline, chill it to a liquefied state and store it at low pressure for delivery.
Full details of Clean Energy's proposed plant have not fully been revealed, but company officials have said the terminal could supply up to 300,000 gallons per day to ship owners and businesses.
"We recognize the importance of expanding the alternative fuels markets in areas like Jacksonville, and are certainly keeping our options open to potentially building a facility in that territory," she said.
There could be more in the works for the company besides the UPS contract.
Martinez said the company is working on "a number of potential transactions" that include Florida entities, but that it is too early to discuss details.
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