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Drilling Deep: Where do you want me to put your package, sir?

Also on the podcast: Renewable diesel might not be as plentiful as envisioned

Photo: University of Washington

Making the final mile more efficient is a challenge with hundreds of moving parts. It is particularly challenging in an urban setting with clogged streets and limited parking.

Drilling Deep host John Kingston caught up with Penn State’s Andisheh Ranjbari after hearing her presentation at the urban freight session at the Transportation Research Board’s annual meeting in Washington earlier this month. She was recently on a team that dealt with a uniquely last-mile-type issue: Should a multiunit dwelling use a locker system as a place to take in packages? It’s a quirky question but one that has a significant impact on fuel consumption and driver time on the road.

Also on the podcast, Kingston talks about a recent report that says renewable diesel might not be the bonanza that some forecasts say it is going to be.


More articles by John Kingston

Drilling Deep: Switching from gas taxes to mileage fees

Drilling Deep: Wrapping up the year in oil and trucking

Drilling Deep: Diving into the truck parking squeeze


John Kingston

John has an almost 40-year career covering commodities, most of the time at S&P Global Platts. He created the Dated Brent benchmark, now the world’s most important crude oil marker. He was Director of Oil, Director of News, the editor in chief of Platts Oilgram News and the “talking head” for Platts on numerous media outlets, including CNBC, Fox Business and Canada’s BNN. He covered metals before joining Platts and then spent a year running Platts’ metals business as well. He was awarded the International Association of Energy Economics Award for Excellence in Written Journalism in 2015. In 2010, he won two Corporate Achievement Awards from McGraw-Hill, an extremely rare accomplishment, one for steering coverage of the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster and the other for the launch of a public affairs television show, Platts Energy Week.