As central hubs for global trade, seaports are not only crucial for the efficiency of supply chains, but also for implementing sustainable logistics strategies. You can discover in this blog post why the future viability of a port is just as important as the viability of any means of transport and which innovative approaches Rhenus is adopting to realize the “port of the future”.
Low-emission shipbuilding, innovative materials or climate-neutral drive technologies – the discussions about sustainability in maritime logistics normally revolve around modes of transport. However, Seaports are one more core element in global trade. About 270 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) were handled overall at the ten largest container ports in the world in 2023 – including seven Chinese ports, led by Shanghai as the world’s largest container port, and Rotterdam as the only European site.1
However, this intensive use is often associated with significant environmental effects. Exhaust gases from ships and port vehicles, light and noise emissions, as well as the high energy requirements for the port infrastructure make a considerable contribution to environmental pollution. The issue is therefore not only how transportation itself can be made more sustainable, but also how ports can become moreenvironmentally-friendly. The sustainable port of the future will integrate environmentally-friendly technologies, reduce emissions and promote the use of renewable energy sources. This kind of change involves challenges for the operators; however, the infrastructure offers significant potential for more sustainable business operations too.
The infrastructure used at ports plays a crucial role in introducing sustainable projects. Modern infrastructure needs to be efficient, digitalized and eco-friendly. But what does this mean for the port of the future in specific terms?
As a leading logistics specialist with global operations, Rhenus also has a strong position in the field of port logistics. Rhenus Ports is present at all the important industrial hubs in Germany as well as in seven other European countries. The company illustrates with two current projects how innovations are promoting the port of the future in the field of sustainability:
The Green Steel Logistics Hub2 acts as the warehouse at the port where steel is to be handled and transported in as eco-friendly a manner as possible. Rhenus will launch the warehouse at the inland waterway port in Dortmund in the fall of this year. The electricity that is generated by a solar power facility, which covers an area measuring about 4,000 square meters, will both supply the energy for the cranes, the building itself and also the charging infrastructure for electric trucks. The favourable location for traffic services makes it possible to transportthesteel from the major seaports to Dortmund on waterways and therefore causefeweremissions. From here, the steel will be distributed to other destinations using electric trucks. It is naturally possible to reverse this chain too, that is to say, from Dortmund to the seaports. In addition to modernizing the logistics buildings in an ecologicalway, Rhenus is working in parallel to have a fleet of inlandwaterwayvessels that cause fewer emissions. Rhenus also offers a more sustainable alternative from a logistical point of view through its Green Steel Logistics Hub and meets the conditions for establishing more climate-friendlysupplychains.
Rhenus is not neglecting the digitalization of port and transport activities either. Thanks to the GrheenNavapp3, Rhenus customers can intelligently combine the benefits of a route planner with those of a CO2 calculator. The app calculates the emissions caused by various means of transport or transport routes and compares them in visual form. It is then already possible to determine the means of transport that is cheapest and causes the leastCO2emissions for the different sections of the route along the supply chain during the advance route planning work. In contrast to emission calculation platforms used in the past, the tool is customized for the central European network of Rhenus Ports business sites. As a result, the app supports Rhenus customers as they look for the mostsustainabletransportroute for shipping their goods both on land and on water.
The discussions about sustainable logistics must increasingly focus on the role played by the ports. The presenters, Andrea Goretzki and Gwendolyn Duenner, talk to their guest, Uwe Oppitz, the Managing Director of Rhenus Ports, about the developments in terms of sustainability and the future of the ports in episode 26 of the Rhenus podcast, “Logistics People Talk” too. All-embracing analyses of the entire logistics chain are necessary for this – ranging from the means of transport to the ports, This is the only way to achieve really sustainablelogisticsoperations. Thanks to its innovative projects, Rhenus shows how the port of the future can become a tangible reality and how logistics specialists can activelypromote sustainability along the value-added chain.
3 Source: https://www.rhenus.group/news-media/detail/using-grheennav-to-find-the-transport-route-that-generates-the-lowest-emissions-rhenus-launches-a-new-app/
