Green Logistics
Plan differently and create a bonus for the environment
Under no circumstances do green logistics concepts have to automatically be linked to high costs. Chemion Logistik is convinced about this principle and has shown by various field-tested solutions how concepts have to be designed that are aimed at an improved environmental compatibility of transports and which are at the same time worth it for companies: a holistic observation of the transport process and the pre-storage and post-storage processes is the basis on which new starting points can be found for an innovative solution. If planned in good time and the willingness is there to use the railway and inland navigation vessels as alternative carriers to trucks, environmentally and economical logistical solutions can be organized. And then it becomes apparent that Green Logistics and the optimization of the supply chain go hand in hand.
Other perspectives – new possibilities
For Chemion as a specialist in handling hazardous good, the topics of safety, efficiency and environmental compatibility are closely linked to each other anyway due to the risk potential of the materials. But beyond that the logistics service provider sees possibilities of generating a benefit for the environment at the same time when developing efficient logistical solutions for its customers and thereby proceeds as follows: initially existing flows of goods are critically questioned and also related flows are checked in terms of their efficiency. The following questions thereby play a central role: how can transports be moved from the road to rail? How can process chains at the location be prepared differently and consequently arranged more efficiently and economically? More often than not it turns out that even making small adjustments can have a noticeable positive effect and that logistics can be arranged in a „greener“ way. If, for example, requirements in companies are identified at an earlier stage and orders processed correspondingly sooner, this has a positive effect on the flows of goods: the transports then have a longer lead time and can be performed bundled and via alternative routes. And if speed is no longer the all-decisive aspect with a transport, there is also no longer any need to make the transport as a spot transport by road. With this rail or ship become economically attractive alternatives and it becomes apparent: Green Logistics is not some burdensome demand but rather a good and economic solution.
Integrated rail concepts – reduced coordination expenditures
This is even more applicable if the transports are coupled with the processing of time-intensive services on site. This is, for example, the case with the workday rail-shuttle between the CHEMPARK locations of Leverkusen, Dormagen and Krefeld. Regular rail traffic links the locations with each other via the approx. eight kilometer long stretch as a standard. After the part shuttle arrives these are split up and the individual wagons are placed under the respective filling point and shunted at the loading points of the end customers. After loading the individual wagons are weighed and the hazardous goods control takes place at the plant boundary. The shuttle offers all companies at the locations the possibility of processing regular transports via rail, linking logistical services near the location with these transports and thus reducing the coordination expenditure for these services. The plant shuttle also provides benefits for the environment: every year it transports around 120,000 net tons and with this eases the strain on the roads in the region by around 5,000 truck journeys. Other synergies to do with the site shuttle result from Chemion‘s regional concept through which the three locations are combined in one rail network. In this respect, processes which are carried out prior or after the transports to stations in Rhineland, the Ruhr area and Sauerland can also be performed with the same equipment.
Cleverly combined
Transferring cargoes from road to rail presupposes an infrastructure that exists at CHEMPARK locations: via the bimodal and trimodal terminals operated by Chemion solutions can be carried out as conventional or intermodal transports. There are direct connections to the ARA ports (Antwerp, Rotterdam, Amsterdam) from the sites as well as to the main roads and the national rail network. In this respect all variations of combined traffic can be realized via the warehouse and handling terminal. Since many companies in the chemical and related industries have a rail connection close to the production facilities, rail traffic becomes particularly interesting for them as a shuttle service. In this respect, for example, the forerun to the container railway station Cologne-Eifeltor can be processed at the sites Leverkusen and Dormagen starting from the siding. The organization of the pre-carriage by rail is an advantage for the client: he is able to plan more easily due to the high level of reliability of the rail transport route and at the same time select an environmentally friendly carrier.
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