Intermodal transportation means the use of more than one means of transportation. At Henkel, this means more of our transports are being switched from road to rail. This process begins with a truck carrying the goods to the nearest rail loading terminal. From there, the goods cover longer distances by train, before a second truck collects the goods at the destination terminal and delivers them to the customer. This allows us to make use of the lower CO2 -footprint of rail transport compared to road transport, since a train emits about one-third of the CO2 of a truck when transporting the same weight of goods. For this reason, intermodal transport has become a key driver for CO2 reduction in logistics at Henkel.
We further intensified our efforts in this regard in 2022. For example, further loads of laundry detergents and household cleaners that are manufactured at our site in Kruševac, Serbia, are now transported to Düsseldorf by rail via Vienna, Austria, and Orodea, Romania, instead of being transported on trucks. There are many circumstances in which trucks cannot be replaced by alternative modes of transportation, but truck emissions and powertrains can be improved. In Germany, we are testing LNG trucks on the route from Düsseldorf to Bönen.
Our transport management system systematically captures the CO2 emissions of our logistics operations and makes our transport planning and implementation even more efficient across all business units and countries. Increased truck capacity utilization and optimized routes are particularly helpful in reducing transport kilometers, cutting fuel consumption and reducing CO2 emissions.
Our progress is illustrated with a digital tool that calculates the environmental impact of transport for all modes of transport based on the DIN EN 16258 standard. Inputs include actual distances based on GPS data, country-specific emission factors, and data from the respective modes of transportation.
The combined application of both IT solutions enables us to foster transparency and data comparability across the entire industry, and helps us to track progress toward our emissions reduction target. Since 2021, we have calculated our logistics emissions using a new methodology developed by our service provider ETW. By recalculating the previous year’s figures, we have a method that allows us to reliably track progress towards achieving our targets.