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

  • Caltrans trials Xerox’s Passenger Detection System
    October 30, 2015
    Xerox’s Passenger Detection System has been trialled in California and compared with the state’s team of human counters giving some interesting results, as Colin Sowman discovers. Like others adopting high-occupancy and high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes for congestion management, Caltrans has faced challenges with compliance in what has been effectively an ‘honour system’ with drivers trusted to set their tags correctly or comply with the multi-passenger requirement.
  • UK county looking for major savings from Siemens traffic light upgrade
    May 14, 2012
    A major programme to upgrade traffic lights at 78 junctions and 100 pedestrian crossings across Norfolk, in the UK, with new energy-saving LED signals from Siemens is nearing completion. The retrofit project to supply, install and maintain all 178 sites is estimated to provide up to 78 per cent power consumption and carbon savings for Norfolk County Council (NCC). The new contract includes an innovative cost benefit payback solution provided by Siemens Financial Services.
  • Triangle shapes up for Netherlands road pricing contract
    October 15, 2024
    Truck levy is due to come into force on Dutch highways in 2026
  • Kapsch: We need to move quicker towards connectivity
    July 27, 2023
    Connectivity requires a lot of different parties to work together – but it’s the only way to get coverage. Alfredo Escribá, chief technology officer of Kapsch, talks to Adam Hill about the value of ‘orchestrated corridors’