Ozinga Brothers Expands Natural Gas Fleet, Opens Filling Station

NRMCA Chicago-based producer member Ozinga Brothers has unveiled last week the city’s first privately-owned compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling station to service its new fleet of 30 CNG concrete mixer trucks. CNG is an abundant gas comprised mostly of methane and is produced domestically and extracted from underground reservoirs. It’s the same natural gas used for household furnaces. CNG trucks look and drive just like diesel trucks but are fitted with special fuel tanks and modified internal combustion engines. CNG is especially suited for short haul fleets since vehicles come back to the same place during and at the end of each working day for refueling.

The alternative-energy fueling station, located at Ozinga’s flagship plant in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood, will serve the 84-year-old concrete company’s fleet of iconic red-and-white concrete mixing trucks. The station will also be open to local businesses and government agencies to fuel their fleets of medium to heavy-use trucks and buses. Its central location will prove an easy and convenient method for CNG-powered vehicles to refuel near downtown and just off Chicago’s busy Dan Ryan Expressway. The station has the capacity to fill more than 30 vehicles at one time.

The company has plans to replace or convert its entire fleet of more than 500 mixing trucks and support vehicles by 2020 in an effort to achieve energy independence and promote alternative energy. In addition, the company is planning to construct and operate additional fueling stations in Chicago and the Midwest to service its other locations. Just like Ozinga's first station, additional stations would be open to private and government fleets; as its network expands it is considering opening the fueling stations so the general public can fill personal CNG vehicles.

With gasoline prices rising and natural gas prices coming down, CNG-fueled vehicles make more sense for cost and environmentally conscious businesses and consumers.