By Anthony Mainville, CEO - Attrix Technologies.
If there was one panel that cut through the aspirational rhetoric at ACT Expo 2025 to deliver ground-level insights on sustainable transportation, it was "Shippers and Carriers Partnering to Achieve Economic and Environmental Success." Featuring transportation leaders from both sides of the freight equation, the discussion revealed how the industry's most successful sustainability partnerships are being built amid political uncertainty and economic pressures.
Amazon Electric Truck (Amazon)
Moderator Eric Neandross didn't waste time addressing the elephant in the room: despite all the sustainability commitments, most customers still aren't willing to pay more for cleaner transportation. This truth set the stage for a refreshingly honest conversation about how successful partnerships are navigating this reality.
"We're at a bit of a weird state right now with political uncertainty," acknowledged Salim Youssefzadeh, CEO of WattEV. "But it's refreshing to see that there are still shippers that care about sustainability. They still want to see it happen."
For Jim Gillis, Pacific Region President at IMC Logistics, the challenge is particularly acute as a drayage provider investing heavily in zero-emission trucks. "In terms of shippers, one needs to pay more, right? It's a unicorn," he observed, generating knowing laughter from the audience. "Twenty-four months ago I went to a company that was on the move and we were able to secure a partnership. But we just went through a brutal cycle of the economy and creativity."
The brutal honesty continued when Gillis added what many carriers think but rarely say publicly: "So many customers say 'I love zero-emission technology, but I'm not paying more.' We have a couple unicorns in our closet - you've got to keep them close."
IMC Drayage Electric Truck. (IMC)
Throughout the 68-minute session, a pattern emerged of three distinct partnership models that are successfully bridging the gap between sustainability aspirations and economic realities:
Andrew Sylling of Unilever revealed how longer contract terms have been essential to their sustainability progress: "Our use of natural gas in New York has been exclusively due to the function of our dedicated fleets, which traditionally for us bring 3-year contracts."
These multi-year commitments have created the stability needed for carriers to invest in alternative fuel vehicles. "The ones we installed had been in St. Elizabeth, in operation for almost 12 years at this point, with the same provider," Sylling explained. "So it's a repeat cycle of agreements, which allowed them to amortize over a longer period of time."
Salim Youssefzadeh detailed WattEV's strategy of building charging infrastructure before trying to sell fleets on electric trucks - a reversal of how many companies approached the market.
"For various reasons, we decided to invest in big infrastructure and saw that being really the solution," he explained. "We knew that public infrastructure was needed, especially for larger carriers, as well as the smaller carriers that can't afford it. They don't have any artificial building infrastructure. They don't have the capital to come in and fill that structure."
This approach has now evolved into a complete package offering for carriers: "We blend the vehicle, plus the charging, and in some cases, the routes. We've tested ourselves, we know it's profitable, then we can go to the other operators."
Ari Silkey shared how Amazon Freight has approached sustainability not as a separate initiative but as part of their fundamental network design: "We're a separate area, so we kind of play both sides of the table, being able to be invested in sustainability with certain R&D customers, as well as our transportation network."
This integration has yielded significant results: "We've had, similar to Andrew, on the CNG side, it took investment, it definitely takes a long-term view. We installed fuel stations across our network. We have over 3,000 EV trucks, CNG, RNG, and funding in the U.S. today."
A Clean Energy fueling station. (Clean Energy)
All four panelists emphasized the critical importance of pilot programs as proving grounds - but with a twist. The most successful pilots are those explicitly designed with scaling in mind from day one.
"Everything starts with the concept of a pilot to prove out in the real world how it looks, how it will play out from what's on the paper," explained Silkey. "We always learn something in the pilot. When we look at a pilot, we always plan what does it take to scale. Otherwise, why do we spend time doing a pilot?"
Youssefzadeh echoed this sentiment, highlighting WattEV's approach: "A lot of it is starting with our pilots. We're working with all the vehicle manufacturers to test all the capabilities of these vehicles. With the shippers, our pitch to them is: let us start the pilot, let us prove to you that it works, and let's find a way to scale."
Unilever's Sylling confirmed this methodical approach is necessary for large-scale deployment: "We used to put our first yard spotting vehicles in 2017. We watched and tested for probably three or four years at that point. And then we started to scale across the network."
In a notable shift from previous years' discussions, artificial intelligence and data optimization emerged as central to making sustainable freight economically viable.
When asked about what technology they're using, Silkey highlighted how AI is transforming operations: "AI was a good word, which is a tagline now, but it's not new. Definitely seeing the function playing for bigger impacts faster across every technology we're using."
He detailed practical applications: "Optimizing routes in real time is a really hard math problem, but AI is definitely helping us do better and more efficiently. We've also seen tangible operational benefits with AI in our call center."
For WattEV, data collection on vehicle performance is proving invaluable: "We're adjusting each EV in terms of how it's performing, what its ranges are, what happens at what temperature, the decline in range. Also how drivers act on equilibrium, whether they're aggressive on acceleration or not using regenerative braking properly."
Panelist Profiles;
Andrew Sylling - Head of Procurement, Logistics, North America, Unilever
A former US Marine Corps Logistics Officer, Sylling joined Unilever in 2012 and now oversees the sourcing of transportation, warehousing, and logistics services across the US and Canada. He plays a key role in Unilever's commitment to achieve full decarbonization by 2039, with particular focus on identifying and implementing sustainable technologies in their freight operations.
Ari Silkey - General Manager, Amazon Freight
With over 20 years of experience in technology and transportation, Silkey leads Amazon's efforts to externalize their transportation network capabilities to non-Amazon customers. Prior to this role, he served as GM of Amazon's North American Surface Transportation Group, where he led the design and build-out of a network that now includes more than 60,000 trailers and a growing fleet of alternative fuel vehicles.
Salim Youssefzadeh - CEO and Co-Founder, WattEV
Youssefzadeh founded WattEV with a mission to accelerate the transition of US trucking to zero emissions. The company combines business model innovation with technology solutions to create infrastructure and data-driven workflows that provide truckers and fleet operators with the lowest total cost of ownership. Youssefzadeh holds degrees in Electrical Engineering, Applied Mathematics, and an MBA.
Jim Gillis - Pacific Region President, IMC Logistics
Under Gillis's leadership, IMC has expanded their California operations to over 500 trucks serving the entire West Coast. Known as an authority on California's regulatory landscape, he has guided IMC's transition to cleaner fuels by incorporating both electric and hydrogen semi-trucks into their operations. IMC is the largest trucking company exclusively focused on international drayage and operates the largest fleet of hydrogen trucks in the world.
Written by Anthony Mainville | CEO AttriX Technologies Inc.