September 19th, 2016 — A 9-degree change in the temperatures inside its trucks of frozen seafood has helped Gorton’s of Gloucester conserve 15,000 gallons of diesel fuel annually.
The change also caught the eye of the Associated Industries of Massachusetts, a statewide employers’ organization and lobbying group, which honored Gorton’s with one of its first Sustainability Awards. The awards recognize companies that manage environmental stewardship, and promote social well-being and economic prosperity across the state.
The award is one of six sustainability honors announced by AIM, with the New England division of Stop & Shop, which operates a store off Gloucester’s Bass Avenue, among the other recipients.
The Gorton’s award comes after the frozen seafood company — a fixture in the Gloucester economy since 1849 and since Slade Gorton’s of Rockport first started packing salt-dried codfish several years later — carried out a study of its transporting systems. The company found that, through equipment and technological improvements, the quality and integrity of its frozen seafood products could be maintained in its refrigerated trucks set for minus-1 degree Fahrenheit instead of the traditional minus-10.
With the change the company has found it is saving diesel fuel at a level equivalent of taking 85 cars off the road or planting 696 trees per year, according to Lisa Webb, the company’s vice president of supply chain.