Dachser Expands Emission-Free City Deliveries in Europe

By the end of 2022, Dachser will deliver emissions-free to the city centers of at least eleven European metropolitan regions. DACHSER Emission-Free Delivery is already implemented in Stuttgart, Freiburg, and Oslo. Preparations are also underway in Berlin, Munich, Strasbourg, Paris, Prague, Copenhagen, Madrid, and Porto.

(Kempten) DACHSER Emission-Free Delivery means that Dachser delivers all shipments emissions-free by default in a defined city center area, usually the city center with pedestrian zones. No air pollutants and greenhouse gases are released on-site. Additionally, noise emissions are reduced. The pilot project in Stuttgart was awarded the Sustainable Urban Logistics competition by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment in December 2018.

For DACHSER Emission-Free Delivery, Dachser has redefined the logistics processes for city center deliveries of general cargo. Based on a modular system, battery-electric vans and trucks, as well as electrically assisted cargo bicycles, are used, tailored to local requirements. The latter are specifically designed for general cargo and palletized goods weighing up to 250 kilograms. While the electric trucks supply small city-center transshipment warehouses (microhubs) or deliver goods that are not suitable for bicycles due to their weight or dimensions directly, the cargo bicycles start their tours at the microhub and are mainly used in pedestrian zones.

Long-Term Climate Protection Strategy

“The expansion of DACHSER Emission-Free Delivery to at least eleven European cities by the end of 2022 is the beginning of a series of measures that we will implement as part of our long-term climate protection strategy in the coming years,” explains Stefan Hohm, Chief Development Officer, who, together with CEO Burkhard Eling, is responsible for climate protection at Dachser. “We are primarily focusing on efficient logistics and technical innovations. We do not want to walk this path alone, but rather work together with customers and partners who also want to actively shape the transformation of logistics towards low and zero-emission technologies. We are convinced that this is the only way we can achieve the 2-degree target of the Paris Agreement as well as the climate protection goals of the European Union and many other countries in the medium and long term.”

“Active climate protection is part of Dachser’s inclusive responsibility. At the same time, our commitment meets the expectations of our customers and stakeholders, thus securing the company’s future viability in the long term,” adds Burkhard Eling, CEO of Dachser. “We have defined four essential areas of action that we address as part of our climate protection strategy: process and energy efficiency, research and development, and corporate citizenship. By the latter, we mean social and societal engagement beyond our business interests, as we have been doing since 2005 with the children’s aid organization terre des hommes on three continents.”

Photo: © Dachser