Total Transportation Services, Inc. (TTSI), a drayage trucking company in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif., has begun using one of the first Cummins Westport (CWI) ISX12 G low-NOx natural gas engines for its trucking operations.

Available for order later this year, the 12.0L engine’s emissions will be certified by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to produce 90% less NOx than the current EPA standard for heavy-duty engines, and are equivalent to that of a truck powered by electricity from the electrical grid.

“The trucking industry is facing hard choices on how we are going to reduce our emissions impact, especially here in Southern California,” said Victor La Rosa, CEO and President of TTSI. “We believe the quickest and most affordable way to cut our NOx emissions to essentially zero is with the new CWI engine and renewable natural gas (RNG). We’ve successfully operated natural gas trucks in the San Pedro, Calif., ports since the last Clean Trucks program in 2008, and it’s great that we now have a dramatically improved engine and an even cleaner fuel with renewable natural gas.”

In 2016 Cummins Westport began full production of the 8.9L ISL G low-NOx engine and has shipped engines to bus and refuse truck OEMs. The ISX12 G low-NOx engine is based on the 12.0L ISX12 G first introduced in 2012 and will start production early next year. CWI anticipates a large demand for this heavy-duty alternative-fuel truck engine.

South Coast Air Quality Management District and the California Energy Commission supported Cummins Westport by providing development funding, recognizing the importance of this technology in helping California reduce emissions from heavy-duty trucks. About one-third of California residents live in communities with pollution that exceeds federal standards, according to estimates by CARB.