Smart logistics can go a long way towards making your supply chain more sustainable –‒ and save you money along the way.
While it’s made significant strides in recent years, the shipping industry still has a significant environmental impact, accounting for more than 3% of the world’s greenhouse gases. In fact, merchant vessels alone produce more than 1 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions per year. If the industry were a country, it would be the sixth-largest producer of carbon emissions in the world.
As public awareness of climate change continues to grow, companies have more incentive than ever to curb their environmental footprint. Fortunately, streamlining your company’s operations can make your supply chain much more eco-friendly. Here are some steps your company can take to increase the sustainability of your supply chain.
Technological Advantages
In recent years, organizations like the Sustainable Shipping Initiative have worked to make shipping more sustainable by planning shipping routes with the environment in mind, designing greener ships, and reducing traffic in major shipping channels. Other companies, like Skysails, are using innovative technologies such as telemetry to track ships, using the data collected from these devices to chart more efficient routes. These advances are already helping shippers meet their sustainability goals while eliminating unnecessary expenses.
Even relatively basic technologies such as biocide-free paint can have a significant impact, as well. This paint prevents marine organisms from growing on the hull of the ship, dramatically improving the hydrodynamics of the ship. Though more expensive than ordinary paint, they can improve fuel efficiency by more than 9%.
Intermodal Transport
Intermodal transport uses multiple transportation modes to ship goods. For example, a logistics provider could transport a domestic shipment by rail for most of the route before transloading it to a truck for final delivery, allowing the shipper (and the environment) to benefit from rail’s inherent fuel efficiency while still ensuring the goods reach their ultimate destination quickly and efficiently.
Better Packaging
Common packaging materials like styrofoam, plastic, and paper labels are not recyclable and non-biodegradable, making it difficult to safely dispose of them. Fortunately, these products can be easily substituted with cheaper alternatives such as corrugated cardboard. Relying on these materials can minimize your carbon footprint by reducing your dependence on plastics.
Shipping companies can adapt simple policies to help the environment within the office, as well. Digitizing your operations, for example will increase office efficiency, reduce the costs of office supplies, and decrease the waste produced by your office.
The Primary Promise
For nearly two decades, Primary Freight has been committed to developing unique, sustainable solutions for our clients. With our state-of-the-art technology, talented team of shipping and logistics professionals, and longstanding commitment to collaboration, we can help you reduce costs and boost efficiency throughout your supply chain, making your supply chain a little greener in the process. Regardless of your company’s needs, we will work with you to develop a shipping strategy that drives value and protects the future of our planet — in other words, the two don’t need to be mutually exclusive.
If you’d like to discuss partnering with Primary Freight, contact us today (800)-635-0013.