MONTREAL — The first of Robert Transport‘s new LNG trucks were supposed to hit the road this month, but bureaucratic snags have delayed the rollout.

Jean-Robert Lessard, Robert’s vice-president of marketing, told attendees at the Americana International Environment Technology Conference in Montreal that the company had trouble getting the greenlight for refueling stations in Quebec.

According to the Montreal Gazette, Lessard told the audience that efforts to get permits were rebuked by provincial officials because "it hasn’t been done … there are no regulations" — so Robert built a mobile fueling station from a tractor-trailer and got a permit from Transport Canada to operate it.

Last summer, Robert Transport made the biggest purchase of LNG trucks in Canada. It originally bought 80 Peterbilts (upping the order to 180 a few months later) with converted Cummins 15-litre ISX engines to operate on the Montreal/Quebec City and Montreal/Toronto linehaul routes.

But even though Quebec was the first province to offer incentives for LNG technology, its refueling infrastructure is reportedly being held back by provincial and municipal red tape.

Lessard said plans to build a fuelling station in Mississauga, Ont. have been smoother.

He said he expects the first of Robert Transport’s LNG trucks to be on the road by August.