Deutsche Post DHL has expanded its fleet of 11,800 eco friendly vehicles with furtheralternative drive systems and aerodynamic modifications, and has picked up an environmental award
for its green fleet.In Belgium, DHL introduced two so-called Teardrop trailers and a LNG truck, while electriccommercial vehicles have been deployed for pickup and delivery services in Tokyo, Japan, as part ofthe GoGreen environmental programme.
The new vehicles in Belgium will be operated by DHL partner Ninatrans. Teardrop trucks, built byDon-Bur, are aerodynamic shaped like a teardrop with a curved roof to reduce air resistance and cutfuel consumption by 5 to 10% compared to regular trucks. To support green transport solutions theLNG truck by Iveco runs on natural gas and saves a significant amount of fuel. It has a reach of700 km and will be refuelled at a LNG station in the city of Tilburg, Belgium.
“Green transport solutions are a vital part in modern logistics operations. We have been workingwith our partners and customers to create tailor made answers to their transport needs. Theteardrop trailer and the LNG truck perfectly represent this approach and will help to reduce theenvironmental impact of the operations,” said Patrick Boone, Vice President Road Network Europe,DHL Express.
In Japan, DHL’s delivery fleet has been expanded with additional e-NV200 electric vehiclesproduced by Nissan Motor Corporation. The Tokyo Marunouchi district will be completely covered byelectric vehicles for parcel pickup and delivery. Many financial institutions, trading companiesand other corporations have their headquarters in this district.
DHL Express Japan President and Representative Director Taketo Yamakawa commented: “Environmental protection is essential to a company’s sustainable growth. Protecting our environmentand meeting the challenge of global warming with measures such as controlling emission of carbondioxide is a critical mission of the entire logistics industry. As the global leader of theindustry, we will continue to strive to provide measures to cope with climate change issuesincluding the use of environmentally-friendly vehicles.”
The approaches follow DP DHL’s overall “Strategy 2020”. The group pursues the overall aim toimprove CO2 emissions by 30% by 2020. More than 1,100 Teardrop trailers are used in the UK alreadyas well as over 11,800 environmentally-friendly vehicles around the world. So far DHL has improvedits carbon efficiency by 18% compared to 2007 – more than half of the target value. DHL offers acarbon neutral shipping service, GoGreen, which was was launched in Japan in 2009 and primarilyreceives orders from major corporations that are proactively addressing environmental issues.
Meanwhile, the DP DHL group has been awarded with the Green Freight Europe (GFE) label for itsoverall environmental activities. This is a yearly labelling program that recognises and benchmarksmembers based on their efforts and measures in reporting and reducing CO2 emissions. The award goesto companies that have shared CO2 data and information on policies, strategy and intentions toreduce emissions.
“We are a founding member of Green Freight Europe as well as for the similar regionalorganisation in Asia. Being amongst the first companies that have been awarded by Green FreightEurope proves that we are well ahead on our way to establish green logistics in our customers’supply chains and foster the cooperation with our road subcontractors,” said Christof Ehrhart,Director Corporate Communications and Responsibility at Deutsche Post DHL.
