Paul Cleverley, Marketing & Communications Director, Freight Logistics Solutions

The environmental impact of transport is significant because transport is a major user of energy, and burns most of the world's petroleum. This creates air pollution, including nitrous oxides and particulates, and is a significant contributor to global warming through the emission of carbon dioxide.

The biggest impact of freight and transport on our immediate environment is of course trucks and vans on our roads. With over 300.000 HGVs over 7.5 tonne registered for use on the road in Great Britain (120,000 are tractor units for articulated vehicles) And with 2.5 million white vans (That is 1 White Van to every 24 members of the UK population.) Just 10,000 of these are electric or hybrid with the Renault Kangoo being most popular with its 170mile range

Whilst manufactures are working hard to reduce emissions and release hybrid and electric vehicle’s it will be many years before we see an impact from these. Whilst DAF and Mercedes have released an Artic truck this year it’s restricted to around just 30 miles travel between charging, so is only able to perform short shunting work. Volvo and Tesla are the most promising, 2020 will hopefully see the launch of Tesla’s truck extending travel to 500 miles, but of course like its cars will enter the market at a commercially challenging price point. We have a significant way to go to making a real impact on energy use and pollution.

Generally, the haulage company is only paid per mile to deliver, not to travel to pick up your load or for their journey home after. So if they can find any load to take on route to their pick or for all, or part of their return journey home, it helps cover some of the time and fuel costs, which improves the hauliers profit, reduces costs to the fright booker and very importantly means the vehicle is not traveling empty and causing unnecessary damage to our roads and environment.

A big component of our business is about filling these empty journeys. Our suppliers and encouraged to register their future empty journeys through our driver App, which we then see on our Ops system, this reduces these assurances and having to send another vehicle to run that route again, we find return loads for vehicles that are already running it empty.

The major other factor in unnecessary pollution from transport is over-specified vehicles, where you might see a single pallet on an artic, often manufactures have restricted relationships with hauliers and have little choice in the vehicle type supplied – it’s what-ever the haulier has available in its fleet. With access to over 12000 carriers we make sure the vehicle is cost and environmentally appropriate as possible for load.

All links in a supply chain are connected and impact each other either directly or indirectly. It is our firm belief that understanding our clients’ supply chain as a whole is key in bringing insight in how cargo is transported in the most sustainable manner.

We think that we can affect the emissions by looking at the most efficient way from each client´s unique perspective to transport from point A to B. That requires a lot of knowledge from our employees as well as from our suppliers, but in the end, this will make all the difference. Our employees have all the competence needed in-order for us to give our client the personalised solution that they require. We only work with selected and preferred suppliers. Together we will cut emissions and in the long run be fossil free.

We can’t exit a discussion without the reminder that the enormous up-lift in online deliveries has far exceeded the resource of drivers available. The UK currently needs an additional 60,000 HGV drivers, with around fifty drivers leaving the profession on a daily basis. By the end of the year there are expected to see around 70,000 vacancies. With over 1.6 billion tonnes of goods now transported by road in the UK, and the massive drop of driver availability whilst they are caught up in extended customs issues caused by Brexit – this will have an additional unwelcome environmental impact and is a crisis that needs to be abated.