The France Logistique Association, which brings together companies in the French logistics sector, has just published a list of recommendations for improving energy efficiency in freight transport and logistics.

These recommendations apply to businesses (in-house), logistics property and freight transport.

Within companies, the association recommends:

• Appoint an ambassador, specifically tasked with monitoring ‘écowatt’ alerts (an alert platform – a sort of electricity forecast – designed to prevent any risk of load shedding) on behalf of the company, carrying out an assessment and proposing measures to be taken;
• Identifying and sharing good environmental practices in the workplace (waste sorting, supplies management, water consumption);
• Encourage employees to make low-carbon journeys between home and work (public transport, car-sharing, cycling, walking);
• Raise staff awareness of eco-friendly habits that can be applied at home (e.g. an ‘ecowatt’ subscription…);
• Reduce energy consumption from digital devices by promoting best practices for their use.

For logistics property, companies are encouraged to:

• Reduce lighting consumption by rolling out LEDs and, where possible, motion sensors, so as to reduce – or even switch off at night – the lighting of illuminated signs and, subject to safety constraints, that of buildings;
• Set the temperature for all offices (air conditioning from 26°C / heating below
  19°C), close loading bay doors, and

  monitor cold store temperature settings in accordance with health regulations;

• Improve the insulation of buildings to reduce the need for heating or air conditioning;
• Optimise the occupancy rates of temperature-controlled warehouses;
• Develop the capacity of logistics properties to generate their own energy;
• Optimise battery charging (for vehicles and forklift trucks), taking operational constraints into account, whilst avoiding the time slots 8 am–1 pm and 6 pm–8 pm.

And, for freight transport:

• Strengthen training in eco-driving;
• Ensure vehicles are maintained to the highest standard;
• Increase the use of route optimisation software;
• Use decision-support tools for fleet conversion, such as verdirmaflotte.fr;
• Increase the consolidation of road freight transport “through trials of the eco-combi and 44-tonne cross-border lorries on routes where there is no competition from rail, and through trials of the 46-tonne lorry for combined transport”.

Source: Stratégies logistique, 14 October 2022.