Volvo Group says that more efficient logistics have enabled the company to reduce its carbon footprint – measured in tones per km – by 22% between 2006 and 2010.
This is one of the findings revealed in a report from Volvo Logistics, the Volvo Group’s logistics company, which develops and purchases transportation solutions.
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The report is a summary of the work that began in 2008 when Volvo Trucks and Volvo Logistics challenged its transportation suppliers. The reduction also includes transportation for Volvo Car Corporation.
Among the trucking companies in Europe used by the Volvo Group, the proportion of truck drivers who had undergone theoretical and practical training in fuel-efficient driving increased to 74% in 2010. In recent years, the companies’ trucks have also been equipped with more modern engines, which consume less fuel and emit less carbon dioxide. In addition, cargo space is being used more efficiently, thus enabling the transportation of more goods at the same time.
All of these factors have contributed to reducing total emissions of carbon dioxide per ton per kilometre from the Volvo Group’s transports, which usually take the form of trucks driven on highways, but also include marine and railway solutions.
In Sweden, truck rigs that are 25.25 metres long are already used, thus making road transportation more efficient compared with many other parts of Europe. Since 2007, carbon dioxide emissions from the Volvo Group’s truck transports in an industrial area in Gothenburg have been further reduced with the help of even longer vehicles that transport more goods during each run. Volvo Logistics uses Sweden’s longest truck rigs, measuring 32 metres, for trips between the Volvo Group’s terminal and harbour in Gothenburg. The rigs are able to transport two 40-foot containers instead of one, thus reducing emissions of carbon dioxide per ton per kilometre, Volvo says. The next step could involve the use of a 48-meter long rig that can transport up to three 40-foot containers, which would further reduce CO2 emissions, the company adds.
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By GlobalDataThe Volvo Group has also also reduced its carbon dioxide emissions in Europe by using more marine and train solutions to supplement truck transportation.
“In most cases, road transportation is the only efficient alternative, which is why we are cooperating with our trucking companies in an effort to reduce the environmental impact of transportation. We are also aiming to find more ways of integrating road, rail and marine solutions. Our objective is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from our transportation in Europe by 30 percent by 2015, with 2006 as the base year,” says Susanna Hambeson, Environmental Manager at Volvo Logistics.
