DHL Express Sweden has announced it will invest about EUR 800,000 for 250 vehicles running onalternative fuels within the next three years.
DHL Express plans to swap out diesel-powered vehicles from its own fleet as their leasesexpire, as well as to cover the additional cost of another 50 vehicles when any of the forwarderscontracted to DHL switches to an environmentally friendly alternative. This follows the recentdecision by DHL Express to convert all its diesel-powered vans to run on alternative fuels such asbiogas, natural gas and ethanol.
The company said that the use of delivery vehicles that run on alternative fuels means areduction in carbon dioxide emissions of 5-8 tons per vehicle per year. As the investment covers250 vehicles, this is equivalent to a total carbon dioxide reduction of around 2,000 tons per year.
DHL Express Sweden currently has around 20 biogas-powered vehicles available, including 5heavy trucks and 15 delivery vans used mainly to transport express shipments within metropolitanareas. The number of environmentally friendly vehicles is about to increase substantially.
“Every year we use the Swedish TKM model (the freight forwarders quality and environmentalmanual) to evaluate the 300 carriers contracted to DHL in this country. Given that we place theserequirements on other carriers, it is only natural for us to practice what we preach. That is whythe transition to delivery vehicles that run on alternative fuels seems like an obviousinvestment,” said Peter Hesslin, Operations Manager for DHL Express, responsible for handling goodsup to 2.5 tons at around 30 terminals in Sweden.
Another major environmental effect of this investment concerns emissions of particulates andnitric oxide associated with jams in city centres. This is because particulate emissions fromvehicles that run on alternative fuels are much reduced. But the investment covers not only DHL’sown vehicles but also diesel-powered distribution vehicles operated by the 300 forwarderscontracted to DHL in Sweden. In this area, DHL is covering the additional cost of the transition toenvironmentally-adapted vehicles.
