Purchasing Transformation

When it comes to sustainability issues related to supply chain practices; two areas are often brought to the forefront as areas of opportunities: packaging and logistics. As for logistics, a recent report (Are Trucks Taking Their Toll) by Dutch environmental research consultancy CE Delft suggests that there is plenty of room for improvement in this area.

According to CE Delft; overall utilisation of the tonne-km capacity of an average truck (Heavy Goods Vehicle) is just about 45%, and most data show decreasing utilization numbers. In explaining this trend; CE Delft offers a few alternative scenarios:

• Buyers with a high focus on just-in-time delivery
• Logistics providers with focus on efficient time management rather than efficient transport

Seen from the buyer side, this thesis is confirmed by the recent logistics survey (in Swedish) conducted by the Swedish logistics operator Posten. More than 50 percent of the respondents Posten surveyed would not consider environmentally friendlier transports if these transports would cause delays or increase the time of delivery.

As with many questions relating to sustainability; responsibility is being shunned by the users, pushing the responsibility onto governments. The problem in Europe is that most logistics cross multiple borders and pushing the responsibility onto the EU and/or national governments is a sure fire way of burying an issue instead of dealing with the actual problem – which in this case if truck utilization. Efficient logistics is still a far way away; Swedish Minster of Transport Åsa Tortsensson hits the nail when she describes the state of European logistics in Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish):

“There is not an efficient road or rail network through Europe; there are 27 national solutions.”