DHL joins the electric company
Logistics firm commits to building green credentials
One of the world’s largest international express companies, DHL Express, is adding three electric vans to its New Zealand fleet. The vans will be based in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, and are part of the parent company’s aim to reduce logistics-related emissions to zero by 2050.
The country manager of DHL Express New Zealand, Mark Foy, said more than 170 of its customers had opted for an environmentally responsible shipping option being offered by the company.
The first of the LDV E80 electric vans will go on the road in Auckland this week, and the company says they are expected to reduce CO2 emissions by around 80 per cent.
“We are very excited to deploy new electric vehicles, which is a significant step towards our goal of becoming a zero-emissions logistics provider by 2050,” he said.
For those who sign up to DHL’s GoGreen carbon neutral service, DHL makes a corresponding contribution to a climate protection project through the purchase of carbon credits from verified and high-quality projects.
Foy said, in line with the group’s global aim to achieve zero-emissions, DHL Express aimed to operate
70 per cent of its first and last mile services with clean pick-up and delivery services and to support the development of environmentally friendly technologies.
“It also aims to generate more than 50 per cent of sales to incorporate Green Solutions, making customers’ supply chains greener,” he said.
DHL Express was committed to train and certify more than 80 per cent of its employees as GoGreen specialists, and to involve them in reaching the group’s goal of planting one million trees every year globally.
The three electric vehicles have been partly funded by the Government’s Low Emission Vehicles Contestable Fund, which supports projects that expand the use of electric vehicles and other low emissions technology in the transport sector.
Foy said that during the last year, employees from DHL Express New Zealand, along with their friends and families, had planted more than 1200 trees, and conducted beach clean-ups across the country as part of their GoGreen programme.
The company has a fleet of around 100 vehicles in this country.