Skip to main content

Excessive packaging causes unnecessary road traffic

Bernhard Simon, chief executive of Dachser, a Germany-headquartered European logistic provider, says he believes that one in five truck journeys would not be necessary if superfluous packaging was avoided. This could reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions by up to eight million tons he believes. In 2005 CO2 emissions from road cargo transport in Germany amounted to 36.7 million tons and the Federal Environment Agency has forecast emissions to rise to 44.4 million tons by 2020.
May 17, 2012 Read time: 1 min
Bernhard Simon, chief executive of 5597 Dachser, a Germany-headquartered European logistic provider, says he believes that one in five truck journeys would not be necessary if superfluous packaging was avoided. This could reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions by up to eight million tons he believes. In 2005 CO2 emissions from road cargo transport in Germany amounted to 36.7 million tons and the 5598 Federal Environment Agency has forecast emissions to rise to 44.4 million tons by 2020.

Julia Wolf, logistics professor at the European Business School in Wiesbaden, argues that transport costs are too low. She says that transport costs account for 15 per cent of the price of a product on average, and 20 per cent of the transport costs depends on the road carrier's utilisation rate. The more links a distribution chain consist of, the greater is the likelihood of excessive packaging.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • US cities opt for variable-rate parking
    May 28, 2014
    Los Angeles and San Francisco are among the US cities opting to use variable-rate parking to make it easier to find a parking space. Los Angeles is piloting LA Express Park, program covering a 4.5 square-mile area of downtown using technology to match on-street parking prices with demand. The objective is to ensure that between 10 and 30 per cent of the parking spaces on each block are open throughout the day. Smart meters and sensors compile occupancy and payment data and based on that information, a pr
  • Is driver information heading for multi-channel mayhem
    October 22, 2013
    Colin Sowman talks to TRL’s research director Dr Alan Stevens about the future for cash-strapped road authorities’ driver information systems.
  • Autonomous cars just years from reality says Verizon CEO
    September 10, 2014
    The technology exists to make self-driving cars an emerging reality in the next three to five years - if the country will build the infrastructure and the government will issue the necessary rules, the CEO of wireless communications company Verizon told the Detroit Economic Club on Monday. His comments, reported by the Detroit News, came the day after the announcement that Michigan will install cameras and sensors along 120 miles of Detroit freeways to connect cars wirelessly to highways and each other.
  • CBI calls for new approach to road funding
    October 11, 2012
    The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) calls for road charging should be introduced on the strategic road network in England. Proposals in the report, Bold Thinking: A model to fund our future roads also suggest that responsibility for the network’s budget should be taken away from the Department for Transport (DfT) and given to an independent regulator. Launching the report, CBI director-general John Cridland said a regulatory asset base (RAB) model was required to address the problem of long-term fu