kinnarps-sustainability-report-2023

33

FOCUS AREA:

Climate

strategy

transportation We have our own logistics system

that is unique in the industry. Instead of single-use

boxes, we use blankets to protect the products in tran-

sit. The blankets are then taken back to be reused for

subsequent deliveries. This saves us and our clients

about 270kg of packaging per trailer. This method

of packaging our products makes it possible to fit

in 50% more furniture per shipment, as we can pack

the products like a jigsaw puzzle and at the same time

avoid transporting unnecessary air. So when others

need up to three trucks, we manage with just two.

This increases efficiency and reduces the number of

shipments, and ultimately the climate impact. Our ve-

hicles are also optimised for maximum load volumes

in accordance with European standards. The vehicles

are lower, which means that we have a larger internal

loading height and loading length in our swap bodies

to be able to load more furniture. Our trucks are

equipped with driver assistance that measures driving

behaviour, which has helped us to reduce average

fuel consumption. At our filling station in Kinnarp,

we use HVO diesel with 97% renewable content,

and we refill with HVO wherever available, which

means that our trucks mainly run on renewable diesel.

All in all, this means that a shipment in our blue trucks

emits 80% less carbon dioxide per product than

conventional transportation using conventional diesel.

 Our own logistics system includes transportion

of products from the Kinnarps, Drabert, MartinStoll,

Skandiform and Materia brands, and during the year

we have worked to expand the concept to also include

products from NC Nordic Care. This reduces the num-

ber of shipments and thus carbon dioxide emissions

as well, while at the same time making life easier

for our clients, as we can deliver a complete solution

in just one delivery. Since the concept was expanded

to include products from Skandiform, Materia and

NC Nordic Care, we’ve also been able to reduce the

use of packaging boxes by around 90 tonnes per year

thanks to packing with blankets and cardboard sheets

instead. After each delivery, we then load the trucks

with materials from our suppliers, which means that

we use the transport capacity in both directions.

 In order to further streamline our logistics system,

we’re taking part in a research collaboration with

Volvo concerning High Capacity Transport (HCT).

This involves testing longer combination vehicles

that drive with two trailers instead of one, meaning

we can fit in a third transport container. This increases

the load volume by 50% and also results in approxi-

mately 20% lower CO2 emissions. This has enabled

us to reduce shipments between our factories

by one trip a day. Thanks to a positive government

decision on HCT on Swedish roads, the opportunity

for increased use has been opened up. We’re working

to ensure that our vehicle combination is approved

within the regulatory framework, which would give

us the opportunity to transport larger volumes to

more locations in the coming years.

 Our vehicle fleet includes electric service vehicles

and passenger cars, and we also have a gas-powered

lorry in operation for furniture delivery, which reduces

the climate impact by over 50%. By placing orders

for more electric vehicles, the proportion of electric

transportation will gradually increase over the coming

years. We’re in discussions with vehicle manufactur-

ers about electric and hydrogen-powered trucks in

order to find alternatives that will work in our logistics

system. In the short term, until the development

of alternatives has come further, we see fossil-free

fuels used in conventional combustion engines, such

as HVO with a high proportion of renewable diesel,

as the best solution to keep our total emissions down.

We have truck containers that are certified for the

railway and we are in discussions with carriers so

that our intermodal freight operations can function

better and eventually make better use of the railway

in our flows.

Climate-optimised transportation

and energy auditing