Ryder System announced it expanded its natural gas vehicle offering into Arkansas for the first time with two customers: Alpha Packaging and Boyd Metals Transportation. The CNG vehicles for both Alpha Packaging and Boyd Metals Transportation will be maintained by Ryder at its Fort Smith, Ark. service facility, which is being engineered to meet the unique compliance requirements for natural gas.

Ryder has begun to deploy natural gas vehicles into the fleets of Ryder customers in Arizona, California, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Texas, Utah, and Quebec, Canada. Alpha Packaging and Boyd Metals Transportation are both current Ryder full service lease customers. Through a full service lease, Ryder acquires vehicles according to the customer’s specifications and provides financing, maintenance, and fleet support services. It also manages vehicle disposal to protect customers from residual risk.

“We continue to see interest from businesses focused on the long-term economic and environmental benefits of natural gas,” said Ryder president of Global Fleet Management Solutions, Dennis Cooke. “Forward thinking customers like Alpha Packaging and Boyd Metals Transportation have already begun realizing the value of outsourcing their fleets from Ryder for over 20 years. As they look to utilize new vehicle technologies like natural gas, we are proud that they continue to trust Ryder to help them improve uptime and reliability, and drive greater efficiencies in their businesses.”