05/11/2018
Member Profile: Castan, Inc
Broadcast email from Sheri Call - Washington Trucking Associations
A member of the Intermodal conference and a longtime member of the WTA, Castan, Inc., owner, Darth Castan’s story is not unusual for the trucking industry, however, the company’s purchase of a fleet of OEM natural gas fueled trucks, to date is an unprecedented move for a small company fleet.
We sat down with Darth a few weeks back to learn about his company, his history in trucking, and what led him to pursue the LNG fleet purchase this past year.
Castan Inc.’s startup story is not an unusual one, however, I personally find these stories inspiring. A struggling college student, in the late 70’s Darth and his father recognized he would need a good source of income if he planned to continue to pursue his education. So, in the early 80’s he and his father, Robert bought a used Kenworth log truck and began hauling for hire as an independent contractor. He bought a second used truck and began his current line of business hauling containers. Darth never made it back to college, and knew he never would when he traded in his 1977 Corvette for trucks number 3 and 4.
The rest, as they say, is history. With the Port’s Clean Truck Program deadline looming, Darth decided to go above and beyond the minimum requirements of the initiative, he took advantage of grant programs in place at the time and purchased 7 used LNG trucks. Darth’s business is strategically located four miles from a LNG fueling station in Fife. Since alternative fueled vehicles are not yet incorporated into the fuel tax statute, Castan can take advantage of a $.30 to $.40 cent/gallon fuel savings over diesel.
Like many of our small business members, Darth’s company is and has always been a family business. Darth’s mother Anne E. Castan was a major part of the startup as well. Anne worked for a major insurance company at the time which contributed to allowing a 20-year-old CDL holder to get insurance to run interstate while having signed a waiver not to hire anyone under 21. Anne also worked for the family business, doing accounting and billing.
Darth’s sister Michelle C. Blasko found out that he had let his girlfriend drive his Log truck. “Ok so around the block we go, says Darth. My dad and I taught my sister how to drive and she continued to drive for the company for many years.” Michelle was a driver for the Port of Seattle when they had their own trucks and one of the first woman drivers running the Seattle terminals. Today Michelle works for ESD 112 Educational Service District Specialized Transportation in Vancouver as an Operations Supervisor.
The ESD currently provides transportation services in twenty-three of the District’s thirty local school districts and serves 161 individual schools. In addition to services to individual districts, the ESD also provides access to two state special needs schools located in the Vancouver area.
Finally, the WTA congratulates Castan Inc., who will receive an “Environmental Excellence” award from the Port of Seattle at a ceremony later this month. The Ports Environmental Excellence annual award recognizes entities of all sizes for outstanding environmental leadership. Castan Inc. has received the award for their commitment to eliminate diesel fueled vehicles from their fleet through purchase of LNG trucks.
We thank Darth for his time, it was a pleasure visiting his company and receiving a firsthand tour of his trucks.
Darth requested that we mention Jeff Wittenberger at Clean Energy, who is also a WTA member https://www.cleanenergyfuels.com/ . Jeff was instrumental in helping Castan make the switch to LNG fueled trucks with information and a demo tractor before they made the switch.
