Hermes Germany has significantly reduced the CO2 emissions of parent company Otto Group byreducing the physical size of its parcels and cutting down on empty space.
Hermes handles over 125 million shipments annually for Otto Group customers, and about 40% ofthese are delivered as parcels.
By reducing the size of the parcel boxes, the delivery company has eliminated the equivalent of500 truckloads per year which amounts to 170 tonnes of CO2 emissions prevented.
For the project, data sets of around 20 million parcel shipments were evaluated by analysing thecombination of box size, air and product volume. This has been made possible through specialsoftware provided by Hermes Fulfilment which takes over storage, picking and packing of the orderedgoods and other fulfillment services for the companies of Otto Group and external clients.
Through the optimisation of packaging sizes, 1.5 litres of air per box can be saved on average.This reduces the transport volumes by 500 truckloads every year. With a loading capacity of 40cubic metres per vehicle, this corresponds to 170 tons of CO2 saved per year.
The lower transport and packaging costs benefit companies such as Otto on the one hand but alsorecipients who have to dispose of less packaging material.
“Green logistics is more than a slogan for Hermes and the entire Otto Group,” said Dr. PhilipNölling, CFO Hermes Logistic Group Germany, who also leads the working group ‘climate andenvironment’ at Otto Group. “As an international logistics company, we are confronted on a dailybasis with our responsibility to develop and implement sustainable transport solutions. We areconvinced that an ambitious project such as the optimisation of the box sizes is a major impulsefor the industry.”
Already since 1986, the Otto Group has committed itself to climate and environmental protectionas part of its corporate strategy. Its medium-term goal is to reduce its CO2 emissions by 50% bythe end of the 2020/21 fiscal year, based on 2006/07 levels.
Hermes introduced the WE DO! initiative as its sustainability programme in 2010. This includes,among others, increased use of alternative engines such as electric or natural gas transporters andthe continuous expansion of the Hermes parcel shop network contributing significantly to thereduction of CO2 emissions in city traffic.
