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Towards sustainable logistics and mobility

Interview with Mr Bernard PIETTE, General Manager of the Logistics in Wallonia competitiveness cluster

What are the key figures for Logistics in Wallonia? The cluster had 346 members at the end of 2018. In addition, since its recognition, it has given its seal of approval to 29 projects: 24 in research and 5 in training. These projects had a combined budget of around €90 million, of which €67.7 million was public funding, and involved 95 different players.

Could you please tell us about the vision, goal and strategy of the cluster? Since its inception and recognition by the Walloon authorities, the cluster’s mission has been to strengthen and sustain the logistic attractiveness of Wallonia. Thanks to its network of professionals, it provides support to its members on questions related to the markets, products and technologies, both in Belgium and internationally.

The cluster’s strategic activity areas also extend beyond logistics in the strict meaning of the term. Our activity is effectively impacted by technological and non-technological

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developments in sustainable logistics and mobility, smart and effective modes of transport (in particular in the rail sector), smart infrastructures and, finally, effective production and logistics processes.

Could you tell us about the members of the cluster? Our members reflect the high degree of diversity in the sector: logistics providers (road or river hauliers, warehousing companies, customs declaration specialists etc.) represent a little under 40%, technological solution providers (IT, equipment) 20% and industrial companies 5% (a level that we are looking to increase). Other members include consultants, infrastructure managers, training and research organisations etc. Although the number of members continues to grow, the breakdown into the different categories remains constant.

What are the prominent features of the cluster’s 2018 activity report? 2018 has been a special year. Following the change of government in June 2017, we had to learn to work with new teams and inform them about the characteristics and challenges of our field of activities. This led us to embark on a strategic reflection process, which I will come back to shortly.

On the subject of approved projects, we approved three new projects this year, including two projects involving the blockchain technology; this new emerging technology allows data transactions to be carried out with a high level of security through the decentralisation and encryption of the data.

Our international activities are also still going strong with the continuation of our efforts on the Chinese market in collaboration with Liege Airport and AWEX. A fine achievement was the official announcement that Cainiao, the logistics

subsidiary of Alibaba, will be based in Wallonia. The choice for Liège is part of a larger strategy that seeks to serve domestic China within 24 hours and the rest of the world within 72 hours. The strategy involves the creation of a logistics network around five main hubs: Hangzhou, the home town of Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, Kuala Lumpur, Dubai, Moscow and Liège.

Another element is the start-up of a rail service between Liège and Zhengzhou, which will link up Wallonia to the New Silk Roads by connecting China and Belgium with two, and soon three trains per week. This also opens up new logistics solutions for local and international operators. In addition, it opens the door to the Chinese market for European producers.

What are the results of the dialogue between the new Walloon Government and Logistics in Wallonia? Will they give rise to new activities? It should be pointed out that the Walloon Government has recently adopted the FAST plan (Fluidity Accessibility Safety Health modal Transfer) which sets out the outlines of the Walloon action plan to reduce congestion and greenhouse gas emissions from transport. By way of an example, the authorities intend to reduce the share of road transport from 82% to 75% and increase the share of rail transport from 4% to 7%.

In order to support this dynamic and translate it into action, Logistics in Wallonia has developed a new strategy called “Sustainable Logistics and Mobility 2030”, which was presented at our General Meeting on 28 May 2019. It was initiated at the request of the Cabinet of the Walloon Minister for the Economy after broad discussions with the main experts and stakeholders in our area of activity.

We were asked to propose actions that could be implemented in Wallonia to ensure the development of a logistics system to comply with environmental constraints. These may be existing measures or new initiatives that the political authorities could take to boost logistics. In this context, the cluster can itself propose actions that complement Lean & Green. First of all, short diagnostics from which companies can benefit to identify levers for optimising their logistics. Next, a new programme called MultiModalWallonia via which we promote use of the most appropriate mode of transport: road, waterway and/or rail. We thus hope to provide a comprehensive and structural response to the challenges in our area of activity.

You referred to the Lean & Green programme that fits in with this new strategy. Can you tell us a bit about it? Certainly. The objective of the Lean & Green programme is both simple and ambitious: to reduce CO 2 emissions by at least 20% in five years’ time. To this end, an equally simple

methodology has been developed. After drawing up a balance sheet of its transport- and logistics-related emissions, the company defines a Lean & Green action plan. It should cover at least 50% of emissions. Next, it chooses a reference unit to reflect its activity: tonne-kilometres, loading metres, pallets, rolls and even a production unit. This unit allows CO 2 emissions to be calculated in an appropriate way and, above all, in a way that takes account of the development and growth of the company’s activities.

An interesting detail is that the company can specify a reference year prior to the year in which it joins the programme: this provision makes it possible to capitalise on CO 2 reductions carried out in the past. Both the measures to be taken to achieve the goal in the action plan and the indicators for monitoring these measures are left at the discretion of the company. What’s important is to have access to the necessary data for anchoring the action plan in the day-to-day reality of the activity. The end result will thus be evaluated both from an environmental and an economic viewpoint.

What is the origin and scope of this programme? Lean & Green originated in the Netherlands and subsequently migrated to Flanders under the impetus of the Flemish Institute for Logistics. Wallonia followed suit in 2013 thanks to Logistics in Wallonia. Since then, the programme has been extended to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Germany and more recently Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The ambition of the initiators is for Lean & Green to become a true European label.

Our ambition is to support companies with the implementation of the action plan and its monitoring. Support is provided in the form of collective workshops, but also on an individual basis. As part of the action plan, we will for example help companies to identify the share of transport and logistics activities to be taken into account in the action, choose the relative unit that best reflects their activities, describe the quantities and types of energy used and convert them into CO 2 emissions… and together with the companies, we will monitor the action plan that they have elaborated to reduce these emissions.

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In your opinion, what are the main challenges that Walloon logistics players will have to face over the next few years? Not surprisingly, climate and digital issues will be on everyone’s minds. This is also the pervasive theme of our new strategy that was presented last May.

In the spirit of what we have done previously, our diagnostics will soon be complemented with a digital maturity diagnostic tool. This remains fundamental because information management is still crucial for stakeholders in the supply chain. The Lean & Green and MultiModalWallonia programmes are effectively aimed at reducing the carbon impact of logistics operations. This is a real challenge because logistics is an integral part not only of numerous industrial processes but also of our consumption habits. In this context, I cannot help but refer to a situation that might seem paradoxical or even schizophrenic: as citizens we all want a healthy environment, but as consumers we equally want to have access to the products we want, when we want them.

It should also be pointed out that our new strategy is complemented by a strategic component within which we - together with field experts - have identified the measures already taken or potentially to be taken that could have a significant impact on the carbon footprint. Examples are alternative forms of motorisation such as LNG, promoting the use of ecocombis, reducing unladen journeys etc.

The cluster thus truly places itself at the heart of the global strategy advocated by the Walloon authorities to meet COP21 targets and reduce carbon impact by 35% by 2030 compared to 2005 figures.