Transport and logistics giant UPS Inc. said today it will build 15 compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling stations across the U.S. to support the 1,400 new CNG vehicles it will purchase over the coming year.

UPS already operates CNG fueling stations in California, Colorado, Georgia and Oklahoma. The new stations will be primarily in the southeast, southwest and Gulf Coast regions. UPS will have 20 CNG refueling stations in place when the expansion is complete.

The natural gas trucks will join a range of 5,088 other alternative fuel vehicles in the UPS fleet, which is composed of all-electric, hybrid electric, hydraulic hybrid, CNG, LNG, propane, bio-methane and light-weight fuel-saving composite-body vehicles.

The vehicles will cover an estimated 350 million miles per year, putting UPS on the way toward realizing its goal of assigning one billion miles to the green fleet by the end of 2017.

"UPS's investment in a large-scale alternative-energy fleet has enabled the company to avoid more than 34 million gallons of conventional fuels since 2000," said Mitch Nichols, UPS senior vice president of transportation and engineering.