Express Courier Limited’s (ECL) Transport division in conjunction with New Zealand Post Group’s has seen it carry off two big awards at the Sustainable 60 Awards presented in Auckland on 1st December.
The first was the Environment Award which recognises the significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of our large vehicle fleet. New Zealand Post Group also carried off the Best Public Sector Award against stiff competition. NZ Post Group was also a finalist in the Community category for the Duffy Books in Homes partnership.
The Sustainable 60 Awards, developed by the Fairfax Media Business Group and PricewaterhouseCoopers, share and reward excellence in sustainable business practice in New Zealand.
It is important to note that the key player in achieving the Environment Award is ECL’s own Transport Group. While not a customer facing division, ECL Transport is responsible for managing the network that ensures not only all our courier product gets exactly where it needs to be and on time but also does the same for New Zealand Post mail and parcels.
Over the last 2 years ECL Transport have been intently focussed on creating a more sustainable network which has had a positive flow back to both in terms of reducing environmental impact and business cost. The main initiatives have been:
- Implemented the SAFED programme (Safe and Fuel Efficient Driving) which is designed to improve not just safe driving but to also encourage more fuel efficient driving. From the implementation of the program this year, we have seen savings of approximately 5% regularly achieved for each driver.
- Use of low rolling resistant tyres: a tyre with less rolling resistance rotates more easily which in turn saves fuel and reduces our CO2 emissions. Preliminary trials have shown a reduction in fuel consumption by an average 4.01% on passenger vehicles. These tyres are now being fitted to all new passenger vehicles, and ECL are now looking to move into a trial of similar tyres for heavy commercial vehicles as soon as they’re available.
- ECL had the first vehicles in New Zealand with Selective Catalytic Reduction technology which in simple terms is a system that significantly reduces harmful engine emissions of smog causing pollutants and greenhouse gases. By injecting a mixture of Urea and water known as “AdBlue” into the engines exhaust, the nitrogen oxides are converted into harmless nitrogen gas and steam.
- We’ve progressively upgraded to Euro 4 and 5 standard vehicles in our fleet with a target to have all vehicles at this level by 2015. These are stringent European standards that set the optimum level of engine performance that minimise the level of emissions.
- We’ve optimized our Fleet which means we now have fewer vehicles achieving the same amount of work which has led to a reduction in CO2 emissions
The top Environment Award was recognition of our collective achievement in reducing greenhouse gasses by nearly 9 percent over the last two years. That’s well on the way to meeting the Group target of 12 percent reductions.
Together with NZ Post, we operate a fleet of seven aircraft, over 130 trucks, 102 vans, 172 motorcycles and 112 forklifts in addition to the 700 plus owner-driver courier vehicles. So with a network of over 1600 vehicles which transport and deliver more than a billion courier and mail items a year, having a focus on sustainability is vitally important.
Key to all this is ensuring that we have clear targets to aim for, that our efforts add value to the business, they don’t negatively impact our customers and that we continue to assess the results of our initiatives.
But we’re not resting on our laurels – the drive for improved sustainability is never-ending and we’re taking the opportunity to trial emerging technologies. Newly available bio-fuels will soon be tested on courier vehicles while there is ongoing assessment of hybrid and electric vehicles in the fleet. Pace have also been trialling an electric Mitsubishi vehicle since October as part of a partnership with Wellington City Council with very encouraging early results.
ECL looks forward to taking sustainability to the next level and demonstrating that not only can such a focus bring positive results for the environment but the business as well.