Natural gas to account for 20 per cent of UAE's road traffic fuel consumption by 2012, says ERWDA

Al-Mansouri made the remarks during an official visit to Berlin where he was briefed by TNT, the world's leading B2B express delivery company, on the use of natural gas in its vehicle fleet. He added that the first step would be the changeover of Abu Dhabi's entire taxi fleet to natural gas.

Al-Mansouri's visit to TNT, a pioneer of natural gas in the transport and logistics industry, follows the company's partnering of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMU) in a project to promote the use of quiet and clean delivery vehicles while testing their operational economy.

TNT pioneered the use of vans powered by natural gas five years ago and the company says the initiative could soon be transferred to the Gulf.

"We are currently looking into the viability of converting our UAE fleet to natural gas and would be happy to share our findings with the ERWDA and work with it, where possible, in bringing this important initiative to fruition," explained Mark Pell, TNT's Managing Director, Gulf and Saudi Arabia.

The ERWDA plan was given a warm reception by the BMU which hailed it as a significant milestone in transport development.

"The Gulf region has realised that the use of natural gas in vehicles is a vital factor in improving the quality of the air and the reduction of noise emissions from road traffic in the medium and long term," said Wolf-Albrecht Hoffman, divisional head, BMU.

"We welcome UAE's initiative and hope that the German automotive industry will take advantage of the new sales opportunities and produce more natural gas vehicles. The logistics market in the Gulf region is booming and will require large numbers of vehicles."