Bertschi ahead of the sustainability game

WELL ON THE WAY

SUSTAINABILITY • THE EU GREEN DEAL WILL DEMAND A LOT FROM THE TRANSPORT SECTOR. INTERMODAL SPECIALIST BERTSCHI SAYS IT IS ALREADY AHEAD OF THE GAME

THE EU GREEN DEAL calls for a 90 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector by 2050. One way to achieve that will be through a modal shift away from road transport, something that Switzerlandbased Bertschi knows all about.

“Today, Bertschi already operates 90 per cent of all European land transport in intermodal transport and is therefore well ahead of the targeted development,” says Jan Arnet, CEO of the Bertschi Group. “Our intermodal transports passing through Switzerland already qualify as zero-emission, as trains that travel through Switzerland use electricity obtained exclusively from non-fossil sources.”

Bertschi’s customers too are looking for environmentally friendly logistics options to help meet their own targets. “This opens up interesting opportunities for us,” notes Hans-Jörg Bertschi, executive chairman. “But to take advantage of them will require major investments.”

As an illustration of the work needed, Bertschi is planning to expand its network of intermodal terminals, planning extensions to the existing sites in Botlek (Rotterdam) and Duisburg this year, with further investments in the Benelux countries in the near future. It is also taking that approach to a wider audience, including trade between Europe and China via the Silk Road, as well as in Russia and the US.

Bertschi is also looking at its own operations. It has invested in process optimisation and heat recovery at its Birrfeld tank cleaning depot in Switzerland, which has reduced both energy consumption and CO2 emissions by two-thirds.

DOWN TO ZERO Bertschi’s next climate objective is to offer door-to-door transport chains with zero CO2 emissions, including intermodal pre- and on-carriage by road. To do this, it will employ hydrogen fuel cells using green hydrogen from renewable energy sources. It expects to take delivery of the fi rst hydrogen-powered 40- and 44-tonne trucks in about three years for a pilot project in Switzerland.

After a successful pilot, an in-house hydrogen fi lling station will be installed at Birrfeld, with hydrogen produced through solar energy and hydro-electricity at times when there is surplus electricity, which cannot be easily stored.

Converting that surplus energy into hydrogen means it can be reconverted back into electricity via the truck’s fuel cell to power the vehicle.

“The fi rst climate-neutral transport chains made by Bertschi could be a reality in the very near future,” Arnet proudly predicts. “For consumer-focused customers, climateneutral logistics is already an added-value proposition. And customers in the chemical industry are also increasingly focusing on climate targets for logistics.”

Hans-Jörg Bertschi emphasises that the speed of this development will depend to a large extent on the framework conditions set by politicians over the next few years: “We will not wait for politics, we are now already starting to anticipate the future. We believe that by doing so, we are not only doing something good for the climate and the environment, but also enhancing the company’s long-term opportunity for succeeding in rapidly changing markets.” www.bertschi.com

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