Supply Chain Resilience Starts With Freight

Freight is one of the biggest sources of supply chain emissions — so why is it still treated as an afterthought?

In this episode of the Resilient Supply Chain Podcast, I’m joined by Jared Spude, Vice President of Enterprise Solutions at Breakthrough, to unpack why freight has become sustainability’s blind spot — and why that’s now a resilience risk no supply chain leader can ignore.

Jared has spent over a decade working at the intersection of freight, fuel, and sustainability, helping shippers move beyond siloed decisions and into data-driven trade-offs between cost, service, and carbon. And the timing matters. Cost pressure is back. Regulation is shifting. Tariff volatility is creating decision paralysis. Yet freight remains one of the fastest ways to cut emissions without breaking the bank.

In our conversation, you’ll hear how empty miles alone account for a startling share of freight emissions — and why fixing them is harder than it looks. We break down why rail and intermodal are still massively underused, even with up to 70% emissions reductions on the table. And you might be surprised to learn that many companies are already paying for cleaner freight today… they’re just not measuring it, or taking credit for it.

We also dig into Scope 3, why ton-mile accounting can mislead growing businesses, and how the most resilient shippers are using data, visibility, and long-term carrier partnerships to make sustainability a business decision, not a side project. No silver bullets. Just stackable wins that add up.

🎙️ Listen now to hear how Jared Spude and Breakthrough are reshaping freight sustainability — and what practical steps you can take tomorrow to build a more resilient, lower-carbon supply chain.

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Transcript

Jared Spude: 0:03

If you're not optimising to intermodal as much as humanly possible, you're dead wrong. So you've got to find ways to continue to introduce straight rail and intermodal usage into your network. And those, to me, are all super low hanging fruit without having to break the bank. We have some break the bank, you know, ideas, but certainly those are all low, low cost opportunities.

Tom Raftery: 0:23

Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening, wherever you are in the world. Welcome to episode 98 of the Resilient Supply Chain Podcast. I'm your host, Tom Raftery. Now, when people talk about supply chain emissions, the focus usually lands on factories, materials, or scope three spreadsheets that make your eyes glaze over. But one of the biggest, most stubborn sources of carbon and cost is hiding in plain sight freight, empty miles, suboptimal routes, decisions made lane by lane, load by load, without a clear view of the trade-offs between cost, service, and carbon. Freight has become sustainability's blind spot, not because solutions don't exist, but because the system is fragmented, data heavy and still managed in silos. So the real question is, how do you cut emissions in freight without blowing up cost, service levels, or already stretched teams? To explore that, I'm joined today by Jared Spude, vice President of Enterprise Solutions at Breakthrough. Jared has spent over a decade working at the sharp end of freight, fuel and sustainability, helping shippers turn data into decisions and finding practical stackable winds that reduce both spend and emissions. And just a reminder, if you want full access to all 450 plus past episodes of this podcast with supply chain leaders shaping the future of resilience, plus a direct line to me for ideas, guests, and new directions, you'll find the Resilient Supply Chain Plus subscribe link in the show notes. Now, Jared, welcome to the podcast. Would you like to introduce yourself?

Jared Spude: 2:11

Tom, thank you for having me. Super excited to be joining the podcast today. Just a, a little intro about myself and I'll take the time to maybe just share a little bit about the company I work for as well. My name is Jared Spude. I'm our Vice President of Enterprise Solutions at Breakthrough. For those that maybe I haven't met or haven't heard of, Breakthrough, Enterprise Solutions at Breakthrough talks about our freight and our sustainability products primarily in North America, however, expanding globally very quickly. And I would just talk a little bit about my experience at Breakthrough and the company's expansion here recently. So I've been with the company for about 10 years now, always on the client facing and operational side. So, started working in client relationships working on the daily operations of our fuel product. Grew into more of a strategic role, working with our clients, building out their roadmaps, expanding capabilities and then most recently leading some of our products. And so a few years ago was focused primarily on building out our freight solutions in North America. And most recently with a strategic move by our company focused on our freight and our sustainability products, and that's globally, not only in North America, but around the globe as well. And, and I want to use that as a sort of a, a launching pad to talk about, why and what we've done as an organisation in our 21 years of existence. For the first 18 years or so, we were a primarily a fuel product business, so helping shippers create transparency to their fuel products. But we've always talked about in the 21 years we've been in business, we've always talked about how creating transparency into the actual consumption of fuel allows us to then manage that consumption. And so we are primarily focused on helping shippers reduce cost, but really it was all under the guise of reducing consumption to achieve that sort of cost goals. And so had sustainability kind of in our lens from the beginning as an organisation. And naturally over time, because we've grown as an organisation, collected more data. Been challenged by our shippers and our client base. We've grown into these other areas of transportation management or transportation practices, and now focus on freight, optimising loads, optimising routes, ensuring you have the right carrier in the right lane for the right price. And then most recently sustainability, which is, are you using the right mode? Are you using the right alternative energy? Are you optimised to reduce the miles and reduce your carbon footprint in general and, the enterprise, bringing it back to full circle here, the enterprise solutions for me is focusing on how our freight products and sustainability products work together to reduce costs and reduce the carbon footprint for our shippers.

Tom Raftery: 4:39

Okay. Very good. Freight's been called the kind of blind spot in sustainability. Why do you, why do you think it's been overlooked for so long Jared?

Jared Spude: 4:49

I just think we've had people focused on freight and, and more recent now we've had people focused on sustainability and we just haven't had those two come together. And it's what it's gonna take if we're gonna make meaningful change to the environment, if we're gonna make meaningful change in supply chain, those two parts of the business have to work hand in hand. We talk about things here as levers. And for us we talk about fuel freight and sustainability levers and cost service, and carbon levers. And we know that there's constantly trade-offs on the day, on the lane, on the route, on the factory, on the manufacturing plant. There's always different levers we're gonna pull and you're gonna pull different levers at different time. I might, I might pull a cost lever because that's the most important thing at the moment. I might pull a sustainability lever because that's what I'm personally focused on. But we have to understand there's trade-offs when I pull lever, there's trade-offs to the other levers. And I think bringing those groups together to have that transparent, fact-based conversation about what those trade-offs are, allow us to make more holistic decisions that move all of us collectively forward. Because I do believe, and we believe, and we continue to prove that point that you can make a cost and a carbon decision that go hand in hand.

Tom Raftery: 6:00

Okay. What was the aha moment for you personally when you realised freight needed a bit of a reset?

Jared Spude: 6:09

Yeah, I think, that's a great question. From a freight specific component it was about just making sure that we're making the holistic decision I, I mentioned. Carrier, cost, mode, lane, and I think there's a lot of tools out there that help you with one of those things. And for me it was like when I bring all these things together, I can actually have a conversation with a carrier that, helps them creates less empty miles for them, gets them back to their house at night. It optimises their network, which is a more cost effective play for them, that then can help the shipper, who is actually my client have a more optimised network, have a more optimised route. Create a longer standing partnership. And I think for me it was like, holy crap, we play in this space where we can bring those two together because we, we see the whole network, we see all that data. We can be this agnostic partner that kind of helps benefit both parties.

Tom Raftery: 7:01

Okay, and obviously as we said, it has been overlooked. Let's talk a little bit about what that looks like in practice. I mean, empty trucks now account for about 12% of freight emissions. Why is fixing that problem so challenging?

Jared Spude: 7:17

Because great for one shipper or one carrier doesn't mean it correlates to to greatness for the other. And so, like, let me give you an example. We've done a lot. There's been companies that have been stood up and then stood back down or failed, who have tried to say, Hey, shipper A and shipper B have, two great lanes that match up and we could reduce empty miles if we worked together. That'sgreat. It looks good on paper. It sounds good in a discussion. But then at the end of the day, something happens at shipper A's manufacturing plant and they're not gonna change their manufacturing schedule and send workers home because I have to fulfill that back haul for shipper B. Right? They're gonna take care of shipper A first, and so inevitably something small happens operationally from A or B, and, and the whole thing sort of, falls apart. So that's what makes it so much harder in, in practice than in reality. I think breakthrough's taken a little bit of a different lens and we're trying to help carriers reduce their empty miles, which is ultimately helping our shippers. And the reason I focus there is I think carriers have a little bit more flexibility when it comes to. Hey, I'll stick around in a city for an extra hour if it means I get back to the exact location I want to be, where a shipper may not have that flexibility from, their own network. And so I think it's difficult, but it's something we have to continue to try to do because it's also arguably some of the lowest hanging fruit to reducing your carbon footprint if we can just reduce the empty miles.

Tom Raftery: 8:38

Hmm. Yeah, and I mean then if we look at shifting, for example, freight to rail, that can cut emissions by up to 70%. What's stopping companies from making that shift?

Jared Spude: 8:51

Yeah. That is also, you know, one of the easiest, lowest hanging fruits going, to rail. Service schedules make it difficult. A lot of shipper's, goods have constraints both from a time and a time to get something on the shelf, a product on the shelf. But also a time to, to meet other deadlines that they have, you know, on time delivery and things like that. And I think service delays, service inaccuracies, I think inconsistencies in rail networks have not given the confidence of shippers to be able to continue to move in that direction. I also think the networks need to continue to evolve. The, the rail networks need to continue to evolve. Hubs need to continue to advance into areas where, you know, we grow as a, as a country or, as a business to continue to meet our, our demands. I think there's some, good and bads happening in the rail industry, and at least in the United States right now as it comes to mergers and acquisitions, which can sound a little scary. I do think that really opens up some doors for additional service gains, time gains and geographic gains for a lot of the shipper community. So I think, you know, there's some exciting opportunities coming there with some of the merger acquisition work happening.

Tom Raftery: 9:53

Yeah. And of course outside of North America, in Europe, for example, where I'm based, the rail network is a lot more developed. And generally a lot of the rail network in Europe is electrified as well, not using diesel. So again, it's even more it's even greater reductions in emissions by going to rail.

Jared Spude: 10:11

Yes certainly we're envious of your electric rail network in Europe, and that's something, we hope for someday, in the US although, you know, then it really comes down to what kind of energy you're using to, to power that electric rail or electric equipment here. You know, that's, that's an interesting point that we hear a lot is like, Hey, let's convert everything to electric. Well, one heavy duty class, 8 electric long haul equipment is it's not where it needs to be for that to happen. But I think the other thing is, you know, in Breakthroughs, calculations, we're looking at, you know, real consumption and we're looking at the lifecycle emissions. And so then it really comes down to what, where are you getting that energy energy? And are you getting it from a clean source and tracking it back to that source to ensure we're capturing, you know, the real extent of your carbon footprint.

Tom Raftery: 10:56

Yeah, just on that, I would say, first of all, no matterter where the electricity is coming from, it's gonna be cleaner than if you're using diesel just because, there are, there are significantly greater efficiencies and reduced emissions by going electric, even if it's, even if it's generated from coal. The other thing I would say, just on class eight it's true that in the US and less so in Europe there aren't that many class eight electric trucks. But for example, in China where they are streets ahead of everyone in terms of electrification, of of transportation, electric class eight trucks are the highest sales of class eight trucks right now. So they're, they're beating out diesel in terms of sales, and of course, what happens in China will happen in the rest of the world in the coming years. The, the challenge I think for Class eight right now in Europe and North America is not availability trucks, although, that is a bit of a challenge. The greater challenge is building out the charging infrastructure. There's, there's significant charging infrastructure rolled out now for smaller vehicles, cars, vans and things like that. But you need to roll, there's a, there's a, a megawatt charging standard, which has to be rolled out for the Class eight type trucks, and that hasn't been rolled out yet, but we'll get there. We'll get there.

Jared Spude: 12:13

Tom, we talk about small stackable wins here. And so that electrification for the long haul network is, is gonna take time. But I think we have small wins every single year and we have to focus on those small wins and the positive gains and just continue on with that momentum.

Tom Raftery: 12:28

Yep. No, absolutely. If, if you had to pick one blocker for that shift, would it be culture, cost, or coordination? What do you think is the kind of the biggest culprit there?

Jared Spude: 12:39

Are we talking specifically electrification or just kind of sustainability in transportation?

Tom Raftery: 12:43

Sustainability in general. Yeah. Let, let's take a step back and go into sustainability again.

Jared Spude: 12:47

Yeah, if you'd asked me that maybe two or three years ago, I would've said culture, we have to just like shift this mindset. I think right now in the United States, it's more of a cost factor and, and you know, we just published our we publish a quarterly sustainability sort of advisor to our client base. And you know, one of the themes there is actually we're seeing a little bit of more cost pressure in Canada and in Europe coming as well. It's shifting a little bit of the focus back to cost in the US I think more so than those other areas. But people are so worried about the economy. People are so worried about what's happening in the next few quarters. And I think the pressure is on cost, which is making it a little bit harder for some of our, you know, clients to make some of those sustainable decisions. And I think. That just goes back to putting that onus on Breakthrough to help them, you know, show where there's still small wins available for them to, to still make sustainable decisions in transportation.

Tom Raftery: 13:39

Good. How are things like deregulation shifts and tariff volatility to put a mildly shaping freight decisions right now?

Jared Spude: 13:50

Well, two, two fronts. I think it's equipment availability, and I think it goes back to cost. And so first, I think some of the tariffs that have went into place, and honestly it's hard 'cause I feel like it still changes every single day. So like, you know, we might say something here and by the time, you know, somebody hears this, it, it, you know, it might be paying. But, I think some of the tariffs have put pressure on getting some of the vital equipment we need, some of the chips, some of the electronics and some of that manufacturing. And so that in itself has made it more challenging to, continue to make sustainable decisions. As, as far as like thinking about how we get alternative energy equipment in some of those trucks for the market. I think cost is the second thing. I think there's been so much uncertainty. It's caused decision paralysis. So. So much energy and so much focus at our shipper clients has gone to creating, you know, contingency plans on what's gonna happen if this tariff comes into place, what's gonna happen if this happens, that it's just sucked the energy and the ability for, for shippers to think about how do I continue to advance my sustainability initiatives, let alone just simply adding more cost to the equation and it, it doesn't, you know, go into their favor.'cause I think a couple years ago people were. Okay making a, an investment, a a slight investment. Right. A little bit of an on cost to make a sustainable decision. Today, I would say it has to at least be cost parity if people are willing to kind of put themselves out there.

Tom Raftery: 15:09

And does all that kind of volatility, does it push sustainability to the sidelines or can it actually potentially accelerate smarter planning?

Jared Spude: 15:21

I think what it does is it puts the big investment for people on hold at the moment. I don't think anybody is saying, and we, you know, we've done a bunch of surveys. Our State Of The Transportation report this year sort of backs this up. I don't think anybody said we're done with sustainability, like, cancel all the things we've done. We're never touching it again. Right. They have plans. I think it's just sort of been put on hold for a minute to see where's the administration gonna fall? Where are tariffs gonna fall? What's the economy gonna do? So I think they're just on hold. But what that's causing them to do is say, Hey, what are those low hanging fruit that I can control? I can control my planning. I can control the empty miles. I can control how I optimise every truck, how I optimise every load, how I optimise, every movement in my supply chain because those are things I, personally can make decisions on and control. So I think it's just causing us to have to work smarter and work a little bit harder. We talk about this year it's gonna take more, it's gonna take more creativity, it's gonna take more work, it's gonna take more time, but you can still, continue to advance your objectives in this space.

Tom Raftery: 16:20

Okay. Those are kind of the pain points. Let's flip it around and look at some of the opportunities potentially. What are the what's the low hanging fruit companies could grab today to reduce freight emissions without breaking the bank?

Jared Spude: 16:35

I mean, first and foremost, it's all the optimisation stuff we just, we just sort of hit on, it's ensuring that you're optimising every truck, every, every lane, every mile every backhaul that you possibly can. I mean, everybody can dive into the network and, and most people have done that, maybe from a cost perspective, not even necessarily sustainability perspective. So step two then is like, hey, all those decision decisions that you have made. Make sure that you're claiming that sustainability benefit because there is a benefit there. And so half of the work that we do is just working with our clients to make sure that they're capturing all those decisions that they made, that tie cost and sustainability together. Make sure you take credit for that, right? And so that that's low hanging fruit number one. Low hanging fruit number two is making sure that you're working with sustainable partners. So there are, you know there are sustainable carriers and there are more sustainable carriers and there are least sustainable carriers. And so making sure that a simple thing like collecting some of that information during your RFP on SmartWay rankings, on consumption information, on equipment that they use, on their sustainability plans. Those are all RFI type documents and information you can be collecting and if nothing else, creating a repository so that when you can make a decision, you can move because you know exactly who to go with and where, and when to do it. And so collecting that information, working with sustainable partners. The third thing is there is a likely alternative energy already being used in your network and you don't even know it. If you're hauling in California, you're likely working with carriers that are using renewable diesel in some way, shape or fashion. Again, take credit for that, right? And so it takes work. You gotta do a little bit of digging, you gotta do a little bit of fact fighting. There's some, you know, some reporting that comes with that. But you can claim credit for that. And it's really important that you dig into that and, and start to collect some of that information. And if you're not working in those areas, then I think it's finding ways to implement alternative energy. Where right now, it still makes a cost conscious decision. So there are states out there in I think it's Oregon potentially that actually the cost of renewable diesel is less than the cost of, over the highway diesel. So you could actually switch to a renewable diesel and save a little bit of money. There are states like Washington and I might have flip flopped Washington and Oregon in, in the heat of the moment here. But those West coast states where there are benefits still on using renewable diesel that bring it close to cost parity. And I think then when you start to think about long-term relationships and investments with those carriers, if you, instead of thinking of it in a transactional in the moment, cost parity. If you build a relationship and look at a three to five year roadmap and you know, try to extend some additional volume, there's opportunities to create a longer term partnership that maintains that that cost parity there. And then the last thing is, if you're not optimising to intermodal as much as humanly possible, you're dead wrong. So you've got to find ways to continue to introduce straight rail and intermodal usage into your network. And those, to me, are all super low hanging fruit without having to break the bank. We have some break the bank, you know, ideas, but certainly those are all low, low cost opportunities.

Tom Raftery: 19:30

Okay. And if it's so straightforward, Jared, why hasn't it been done already by everyone?

Jared Spude: 19:36

It takes time. It takes work, it takes time. We talked about the fear of cost changes over the next year in the economy. On top of that, it's been a tough workplace environment. It's hard to find jobs right now. And I think everybody's tightening their belts a little bit, trying to do more with less. Teams are shrinking and so it's just a. It's literally a brain space and capacity issue. And so finding time to focus on those small stackable wins that we talk about, but that can have, you know, bigger lasting impacts when you put'em together is really difficult. And I think that's where just finding the right partners to help you in that space is the most important thing. To be an expert in sustainability and transportation is a rarity. I mean, that is, that is really hard to find, in transportation at a lot of our shipping partners to have all that knowledge in one place, because even on top of that, you could understand, you know, the basics of sustainability and you could have a good working knowledge of what transportation is. But how heck do you keep track of legislative changes and tax incentives and all? I mean, there's a whole nother side of that that requires a ton of work and energy and just there's no one human being that, can do that on their own. And so making sure that you find the right partners that can help bring all of those pieces of data to the decision-making process, and then arm you with the, with you making the decision, but doing that work for you is really important.

Tom Raftery: 20:56

Okay, only 14% Jared of shippers, screen carriers for clean tech. What's the business case for changing that?

Jared Spude: 21:06

To screen more. I think for it's about building that repository of who's out there in working in this space so that when you can make a decision you know exactly who, who to go with. It's one of the easiest things you can do. Most shippers do an RFP every single year. And so as part of that gating document, as part of that in data collection upfront in that process, asking a few simple questions each year to kind of collect some of that is, you know, is really important. And I think. Right now, the demand for some of the stuff is down. And so if you just even think about simple supply demand and you know, longer term strategy. If you're a shipper and you can afford to put the time or some money in now while the demand is low, you might be able to establish, establish relationships with carriers. Get your hands on equipment that, you know, a year from now, six, six months from now, 18 months from now is gonna triple, you know, or whatever. It's gonna be way harder to do because everybody's gonna be doing it. If it takes an administration change and a policy change, and now everybody is forced to do something and the cost. And the time to do something skyrocket. So it's really now is the time to make that investment. And I just keep pushing our clients just to collect information. Whether you decide to do something with it in that current year, RFP or not, you have it at your fingertips now to create, you know, that repository, so you're ready to act.

Tom Raftery: 22:22

Okay. And then how are leading shippers actually using data to plan smarter networks?

Jared Spude: 22:31

Yeah, I, when we talk about not being able to put all the pieces together, so much data coming in and not know what to do with it, I think it's about how do we pull in legislative insights and policy planning to understand what's coming? How do I pull in real time analytics in, into my network from a a true planning perspective? Where am I gonna need to move goods? How many goods do I need to move and when do I need to move 'em? And then having that robust network that you can constantly and continually optimise. And I think, with the influx of technology into everything that we do today, I think ensuring that you have the right technology in the right places that just constantly evaluates those, you know, important inputs of legislation, planning and transportation networks allows you to stay super nimble through this whole thing. And it's all about just making sure that no matter what disruption, no matter what change happens, I'm just constantly optimising with the levers that we talked about earlier.

Tom Raftery: 23:25

And then there's the whole topic of scope three, which is very challenging I think. You know, it's the, the, the area most leaders find the hardest to get their arms around and transportation sits deep in scope three. Where should companies start measuring and acting on that?

Jared Spude: 23:44

I think first and foremost it's just a data collection and it's creating a baseline. So I think most of our shippers have a baseline created at this point, but if you don't, that's step number one. Just. You gotta, you gotta figure out where to start. If you can't measure it and you can't see it, you can't act on it and you can't change it. So sort of creating that baseline, and then I think it's what is, what is your roadmap? And so again, most of our shippers have some type of roadmap. I think, you know, I, I would feel confident in saying that 70% of our clients do have a roadmap in place with some level of goal or target. Then I think where, where the daunting task. And where people get overwhelmed and it just sort of falls apart, is like, okay, I understand where I gotta be at 2030, but I don't know how the heck to get there. So how, how do we do that? And I think we have technology, you know, we have the experience. We can actually show you stair step cookie cutter, by the end of this year you need to do this to get there by the end of this year, you need to do this to get, get there. And we can actually, you know, start to show people a path to achieve that. And that's where you just take those small, stackable wins, you know, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. And you just have to continue to look at the long term to make those changes. But I would say, one of the things a lot of shippers fall, fall short of is if you're not looking at a consumption based calculation, you're gonna have a really hard time getting to your long-term goals. And the reason I say that is because your, your goal as a business is to grow. And so the number one thing when you talk about like ton mile calculations is as I grow as a business, it gets really hard to continue to shrink if I'm shipping more because my business grew, it's really hard to continue to shrink my carbon footprint. And so unless you get to that granular level, that consumption, true consumption level at a, at a shipment level. It's really hard to make sure that your carbon intensity continues to decrease over time. And so having accurate granular insights into your network is really, really important to achieving those goals.

Tom Raftery: 25:37

Okay. Do you have any customer success or customer win stories you can talk about?

Jared Spude: 25:44

Yes, we have a ton. I think one, one I wanna highlight the most here because I think now's the time to make that investment is in alternative energy equipment. And so I think one of, one of the wins we're most proud of right now is actually connecting an energy provider, a carrier, an equipment manufacturer, and a shipper. And they implemented an RNG dedicated fleet into their, you know, into their network. And so using the data that we have, using the connections that we have, we were able to talk to a shipper who was really interested in alternative energy. We were able to locate a place in their network where they had the volume, the right amount of turns, the distance on a lane to get that truck back and forth, e enough times in a day to make the costs, right. We were able to then find a carrier who is willing to make an investment in a relationship. And notice I didn't say in the equipment, in a relationship because they're investing, you know, over a five year period because it is expensive to buy a piece of equipment, let alone pieces to stand up a dedicated fleet. But when you, when you create a relationship, when you really create that long-term partnership, you can talk about investments over a longer period of time. That reduces, reduces your risk of reliability in that sense. And so found the right carrier willing to make that investment. And then ultimately found the energy provider who was able to create the infrastructure to stand up this dedicated fleet. And so today, that dedicated fleet is, is thriving. Super excited that it's, it's stood up and been successful and some incredible results. So we're talking about up to a 20% emissions reduction in their network, in that area by standing up a dedicated RNG fleet. It took a ton of work. I think it took a ton of learning for us to kind of put all those puzzle pieces together, but significant impact when you're able to, you know, take a look at that.

Tom Raftery: 27:27

Nice. Okay. Let's zoom out a bit. What does the next five years of freight sustainability look like to you?

Jared Spude: 27:36

Yeah, right now we're just talking about to people about making sustainable business decisions. So it's not about just making all green decisions or only sustainable decisions, because right now that comes at a significant cost. We wanna talk to people about our making sustainable business decisions and really looking specifically at your network, individual lane and movements details to find ways to not only find cost parity, but also carbon reduction. And I think as technology continues to evolve, as infrastructures continue to advance, we're gonna continue to find ways to add those stackable wins. I think people wanna see, the home run hit that gets 'em to their carbon goal in 2030. And it's just, those don't exist right now, especially in the United States. And so continuing to, advocate on our shipper's behalf so that policies and tax incentives continue to exist, working with manufacturers of equipment and producers of energy types to continue to, share some of the benefits that do exist in the United States on some of this energy equipment to incentivise carriers and shippers to ultimately create partnerships. And I think right now our number one focus is continue to build out our directory or repository of carriers that are willing to make those investments and to kind of build relationships with shippers and then ultimately make those connections with shippers and carriers. We believe at Breakthrough in really, three key things, fairness, accuracy and transparency. And I think right now how do we create transparency to what exists and to, you know, build relationships and in sharing some of that information between shippers and carriers so that ultimately we can, you know, continue to create these opportunities for alternative energy use.

Tom Raftery: 29:16

And if you had a crystal ball, what's the one big unlock? Would it be policy? Would it be technology? Would it be something else entirely?

Jared Spude: 29:25

Yeah, crystal Ball is a, that's a great question. I wish I had one. I, I think technology and the advancement of technology and the access to data is, I mean, it's not going to shrink and so I, I do think technology's going to catch up, whether that's autonomous vehicles or some of the continued advancements in alternative energy equipment, those are gonna continue to advance to the point where we can actually, make real meaningful change for long haul trucking, class eight vehicles, et cetera. I think the path to get there is going to be through policy and tax programs incentives that continue to give people the opportunity, afford people the opportunity to make sustainable decisions without it coming at the cost of an arm and a leg. And I think, it's our job to continue to educate people and continue to advocate for these types of opportunities. But, I think it is gonna take, you know, a little bit more favorable policy to continue to advance that.

Tom Raftery: 30:20

Okay. If we sat down again in 2030, what would you hope has changed most in how we move goods?

Jared Spude: 30:29

That Tom is an awesome question in how we move goods. I, I would hope that by 2030, well, I'm gonna back up for just a second. I hope by 2030 every single shipper has some type of baseline and has some type of a plan. I know that the, private versus public and personal, you know, preferences of leaders at organisations, those plans are gonna be different. I mean, I think it's crazy to think that, four years from now, everybody's gonna be, you know. Having the exact same goals at the exact same pace. I think that's unrealistic. But I would hope that four years from now, everybody has a baseline, everybody has a plan because this isn't going away, this isn't, you know, a topic that is gonna just roll over and die and that we shouldn't focus on. It's gonna come back. Administrations and policies change, and I think we're gonna be, you know, where we were a couple years ago, a couple years from now. And so I think, it it's important to have a plan and I hope at that time we do. I also think though that technology is gonna continue to advance and while we may not be able to do a Class eight truck coast to coast four years from now, I do think there are gonna be significant corridors in the United States that are gonna allow for that electrification, which I think is gonna drastically help change you know, what we're working on. I think the scale the speed at which the infrastructure's already improving has a little bit of a hockey stick curve.

Tom Raftery: 31:46

Hmm.

Jared Spude: 31:46

and I think that's going to continue over the next four years. And so I think the advancement of alternative energy options for shippers are going to be different four years from now.

Tom Raftery: 31:55

Okay. If every supply chain leader listening to this podcast took just one action tomorrow to make freight more sustainable, would you want that to be and why?

Jared Spude: 32:08

I, I want in the tomorrow, given the environment that we're in, I want people to just look inside. I don't think the answer for every company right now is to go, pay money to buy a, you know, an electric truck. Look inside your network and, and really, take the gloves off and take a hard look at your own network to find ways and small ways that you can continue to improve. Do you have to expedite that shipment and put it on, one pallet on a full truck to get it there tomorrow? Are there ways we can leverage technology and relationships today within your own network without significant investment to just continue to optimise your loads and optimise your routes and reduce your empty miles? And I think honestly, if everybody just took that hard look and was willing to maybe even share a little bit of data in order to optimise across multiple areas of shippers networks, I think we'd all be better.

Tom Raftery: 33:01

Okay. Very good. Left field question for you, Jared. If you could have any person or character, alive or dead, real or fictional as a champion for sustainable transportation, who would it be and why?

Jared Spude: 33:18

That is a phenomenal left field question Tom. I would create, you know, some type of superhero that's, carbon Man or something. And you know, he's able to, oversee the, oversee everybody's network and, and able to solve challenges and problems that exist today. So I would create a fictional superhero that could help champion you know, these carbon initiatives.

Tom Raftery: 33:40

Okay, great. We're coming towards the end of the podcast now, Jared, is there any question that I didn't ask that you wish I did or any aspect of this we haven't touched on that you think it's important for people to be aware of?

Jared Spude: 33:54

You know, I had a few questions when we started this. I think you hit on a lot of the, stuff that I had hoped that we would cover. We talked about progress a lot, which I think, you know, I was excited for. We talked about what's the future of, sustainability. If I were to have you ask me, Jared, what's the number one thing that you tell your shippers today? It's, it's focus on relationships. Focus on on partnerships. So I think it's really hard in today's environment to do this, to tackle this challenge alone. And I, I truthfully don't believe any organisation has one person that knows enough about legislative and policy implications, their own network, understands transportation, sort of 1 0 1 and, sustainability in transportation to kind of handle this on their own. And so I just really, you know, challenge people to find partners that can help you solve that. And I think, you know, it's gonna take more this year to achieve budgets and goals. It's gonna take more to continue on people's sustainability journey this year. And so finding people that can help you do that along the way, I think is, is gonna be really important to continue to advance your, your initiatives here.

Tom Raftery: 35:01

Great. Jared, if people would like to know more about yourself or any of the things we discussed in the podcast today, where would you have me direct them?

Jared Spude: 35:09

First, our website, it's breakthrough fuel.com. Breakthrough B-R-E-A-K-T-H-R-O-U-G-H fuel.com. There's a ton of information on there in our products as well as the State Of The Transportation report that I mentioned a couple of times during this that has some, interesting facts. You can also check me out on LinkedIn, so Jared Spude J-A-R-E-D-S-P-U-D-E on LinkedIn. And would love to connect and, you know, share more about what we're doing with shippers and how we can help.

Tom Raftery: 35:37

Fantastic Jared., that's been really interesting. Thanks somebody for coming on the podcast today.

Jared Spude: 35:42

Thanks Tom. Appreciate it.

Tom Raftery: 35:44

Okay. Thanks everyone for listening to this episode of the Resilient Supply Chain Podcast with me, Tom Raftery. Every week, thousands of senior supply chain and sustainability leaders tune in to learn what's next in resilience, innovation, and transformation. If your organisation wants to reach this influential global audience, the people shaping the future of supply chains, consider partnering with the show. Sponsorship isn't just brand visibility, it's thought leadership, credibility, and direct engagement with the decision makers driving change. To explore how we can spotlight your story or your solutions, connect with me on LinkedIn or drop me an email at Tom at tom Raftery dot com. Let's collaborate to build smarter, more resilient, more sustainable supply chains together. Thanks for tuning in, and I'll catch you all in the next episode.