Hamburg Süd Focuses on Sustainability

This is borne out by the Fraunhofer study “Sustainability Index for Logistics Service Providers”

Hamburg 19 Mai 2011. A few days ago the Fraunhofer Working Group for Supply Chain Services SCS published the study “Sustainability Index for Logistics Service Providers”. The study analysed how transparently logistics service providers report on their activities in the area of sustainability and the measures they use to put the idea of sustainability into practice. Hamburg Süd received a thoroughly positive assessment on both counts. For one thing, the institute finds that the shipping group communicates the issue of sustainability “very transparently”; for another, Hamburg Süd is categorised as a “doer” (according to the definition of the working group) when it comes to implementing sustainability activities.

With the transparency index “very transparent”, the working group honours Hamburg Süd’s public relations work, especially its internet presence (www.hamburgsud.com and www.hamburgsud-line.com), which underwent a relaunch as recently as January 2011. Under the heading “Sustainability”, the websites contain not just extensive information on the corresponding activities of the shipping group, but also a CO2 calculator that customers can use to work out the carbon footprint of a container between ports of loading and discharge. Since “sustainability” for the Fraunhofer Working Group is made up of the three components ecology, economy and the social element, the new career portal and the web content dealing with the activities of Group companies in the social field also fed into the assessment.

With the “doer” categorisation under the “Sustainability Index” heading, the institute takes account of the numerous economically and ecologically effective measures Hamburg Süd applies in putting the idea of sustainability into action. In ship operation these include, in particular, slow steaming and weather routing as well as the use of cutting-edge technology. In its newbuildings, for instance, Hamburg Süd is consistently backing common rail direct injection engines and pre-swirl solutions to reduce bunker consumption. Equally, the shipping group is supporting trials of low-sulphur fuel. In its study, the institute defines a “doer” as “a group of companies which subordinates strategic classification in the enterprise to the direct improvement of the sustainable situation (…) individual measures are often tailored to customer requirements in such a way as to achieve a high level of efficiency.”

The study of the Fraunhofer Working Group for Supply Chain Services SCS is intended to serve as a guide for shippers and interested parties, and, at the same time, draw attention to logistics service providers operating sustainably. The analysis examined the 150 largest logistics service providers by revenue from the “Top 100 in Logistics” study of 2010 (note: this covers a total of more than 200 companies).

“Hamburg Süd’s good rating from the Fraunhofer Working Group is at once recognition and incentive for us,” said Dr Arnt Vespermann, Member of the Executive Board of Hamburg Süd. “It shows that we have embarked on the right course, and we intend to continue pursuing this course while demonstrating commitment and customer-orientation.”
 

Source: Hamburg Süd