Covestro targets more sustainable logistics in China
Covestro is launching a pilot green logistics program with partners in China as part of efforts to decarbonise the chemical supply chain.
According to a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed at Covestro’s booth at the China International Import Expo, the company intends to work with customers like Sherwin-Williams and Changzhou Changtu Chemical Co. Ltd, logistics solution and infrastructure partners such as Sinotrans Chemical International Logistics and Harbour New Energy Technology Shenzhen, as well as industry organisations such as Smart Freight Center China to devise new green logistics solutions to further reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across the industry ecosystem.
Truck transport in focus
In the Asia-Pacific region, around 70 percent of Covestro’s goods are transported by truck, while in Europe and North America only around one-third is transported by road in each case, with inland waterways and railroads otherwise being used more frequently. As such, the new partnership will focus on designing more sustainable means of road transportation by truck, and evaluate the viability of certain solutions under specific scenarios.
This includes the experiment of using electric trucks, which are prohibited for the road transport of dangerous goods under Chinese and European laws, for the short-distance shuttling of non-dangerous chemicals – free of limitations regarding the range. The team is also trying biodiesel, whose prices are subsidized in Shanghai, in long-haul transport of dangerous goods. Other solutions the program is looking at include hydrogen fuel cell-powered trucks. Some of the experiments will be adopted in real cases with cost and benefit estimation in the first half of 2023 under the partnership.
