Rhenus is using its in-house solution to optimise the planning work related to finding the most sustainable route in response to the increasing demand for transparency about the generation of emissions along supply chains. GrheenNav calculates the emissions rates of different modes of transport or routes and compares them in visual form. As a result, it is already possible to determine during the advance planning work which modes of transport are most favourable in logistical terms and which ones generate the lowest CO2 emissions for the various sections of the route along a supply chain. In contrast to platforms for calculating emissions, which have been used in the past, the Rhenus IT specialists have tailored the tool to the Central European network of the Rhenus Ports sites. It not only includes ship, but also road and rail transport. As a result, the emissions from the sites and different modes of transport are included in the calculations. GrheenNav therefore takes into consideration all the assets and stages from the preliminary pick-up run to the handling operations at the terminal and even the final delivery. This significantly simplifies the assessment of environmental pollution along different transport routes.
The innovative tool has already been in use on a trial basis in customer discussions for several months. The app initially identifies the most favourable routes from a logistical point of view and visualises them in the system. GrheenNav then makes it possible to compare the different routes in terms of their CO2 emissions and therefore identify the best possible means of transport and routes. One advantage over other emissions calculators is the app’s user-friendliness and the simple visualisation of the route options. The tool provides a high level of customer orientation because customers’ business sites can be included in the planning work and particular routes can be earmarked as favourites.
“The concentrated port network at Rhenus Ports already offers our customers more sustainable conceptual approaches at the most important European hubs. Our GrheenNav tool is now reinforcing this process. Our transport colleagues naturally form an integral part of this supply chain service,” says Uwe Oppitz, the CEO of Rhenus Ports, summarising the benefits.
“Thanks to our GrheenNav app, we can particularly offer perfect support to sectors that are undergoing transformation, such as the steel or building materials industries, which require enormous amounts of energy to operate, by providing them with a visual representation of how we improve routes for them and can therefore ultimately accompany them along their transformation journey,” says Robert Schmid, the Director of Sales and Co-Developer of the Rhenus Ports project, explaining the opportunities offered by GrheenNav for industry and the environment.
An event organised by Rhenus IT, the “Rhenus Hackathon”, in September 2023 provided the impetus for developing the tool. The Rhenus IT specialists designed an appropriate solution in response to one of several ideas suggested by employees related to optimising their working practices; this has now been put to test in practical situations just a few months later.
The Rhenus transport and IT experts are continuing to develop the app to ensure that users can operate GrheenNav even more effectively in future. They are currently working on adding more detailed parameters, for example, the drive system used by the inland waterway vessel or the crane when transhipping goods at a terminal. Although GrheenNav still currently calculates average figures, the aim is to make the calculations even more precise in future and make a significant contribution to enable more sustainable logistics operations.
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