Transport
To ALTANA, safety is the highest priority, including when it comes to transporting chemicals. Consequently, we place high demands on shipping companies we contract with, since ALTANA does not use any vehicles of its own for transport.
In addition to cost, our selection of logistics service providers is based on criteria such as accident statistics or the existence of an environmental management system certified according to ISO 14001 or similar standards.
The hazardous goods transported on behalf of ALTANA include products that are classified as “dangerous” under the Ordi nance for the Transport of Dangerous Goods. The specialty coatings or precursor materials for coatings produced by ALTANA are primarily classified as “flammable” or “corrosive.” ALTANA typically ships its products by truck, and occasionally by tank truck. Goods intended for overseas delivery are sent by ship and only in rare exceptions as airfreight.
Review of train transport
ELANTAS Beck in Hamburg is working with a logistical com pany that primarily uses trains. The quality of the service and the price-performance ratio has substantially improved, which is why the train transport will be continued. However, this service provider is currently limited to the Hamburg site.
Although we did not measure the reduction of CO2 emissions generated by transport in the past, we began to look into further solutions in 2010. The primary goal is to measure current emissions that result from the transport performed on behalf of ALTANA. The next step will then be to define specific key indicators to achieve a measurable reduction of CO2 emissions.
ALTANA participates in the taskforce “International Logistics – Environmental and Resource Efficiency” of the German Logistics Association to approach this project, which could be consid ered a sub-aspect of “green logistics.” This taskforce brings together a variety of companies from the consumer goods, automotive, and chemical industry and various logistics service providers. Following the evaluation of the first results, our requirements were defined in consultation with Berlin Technical Universi ty. We plan to initiate a sustainabili ty project with TU Berlin on the basis of the preliminary studies and the measurement of CO2 emissions from transport services is scheduled to com mence in 2012.
