A new partnership between Arla Foods and Danish Crown aims to create a climate-neutral transport route connecting Denmark and the UK.
Arla Foods and Danish Crown ship enormous amounts of food through the port of Esbjerg in Denmark to Immingham on the east coast of England and onto the UK market each year, and the transportation has a substantial carbon imprint. To achieve climate-neutral food transport from Denmark to the UK (net zero) by 2030, the two food titans have now teamed up with DFDS and DSV.
“The entire agricultural sector is undergoing a historic transition, and Arla and Danish Crown have committed to becoming climate-neutral by 2050. We can only achieve that by joining forces, and DFDS and DVS are of a similar mind. Together, we want to explore and develop the opportunities already available today rather than wait for new technologies,” says Bo Svane, Head of Logistics at Arla.
The transport corridor’s scope will progressively increase as the use of electric trucks, electric refrigerated trailers and the development of greener fuels are tested, phased in and scaled up so that new technologies may be employed in transporting Arla’s and Danish Crown’s products by 2030.
“The partnership for the corridor fits hand in glove with our ambition to lead the way in the green transition of the food industry. We’ll be opening a new factory in the UK this autumn. With the corridor in place by 2030, we’ll be able to offer our British customers food products transported from farms in Denmark to supermarkets in the UK without impacting the environment,” says Lars Feldskou, Group CPO of Danish Crown.
Having worked on developing the transport corridor during the past year, the four companies are ready to launch several pilot projects. Specifically, Danish Crown plans to test the use of electric trucks to collect pigs. At the same time, DFDS and DSV will conduct a pilot test on using electric trucks and refrigerated electric trailers for transporting dairy and meat products to Esbjerg and for distribution in the UK. DFDS and DVS have been operating this freight route for many years, and they share the ambition to improve it and to reduce and gradually remove its climate impact.
“We’re excited to be one of four large companies teaming up for this project, in which we’ll promote and begin delivering on the green transition. We need to collaborate across the value chain to solve the climate crisis,” says Anders Michael Christensen, Vice President of DFDS Logistics.
The first charging points for electric trucks have already been installed at a few locations in Denmark. Still, we need many more with sufficient charging capacity to handle heavy-duty traffic, including at the harbour in Esbjerg and Danish Crown and Arla locations in Denmark.
“A climate-neutral transport corridor needs not only commercial commitment but also the political will to expand the infrastructure. There’s no snap solution to solving the climate crisis, and that’s precisely why teaming up across sectors like we’re doing now is so important,” says Morten Kjærgaard, Vice President of DSV Road.
The companies behind the ambition for a climate-neutral food transport corridor will begin gathering data next year to measure the partnership’s effects on the climate.
