DSV actions circular economy plan to refurbish 1,100 trailers

circular economy

Danish transport and logistics company, DSV, is doubling the lifecycle of 1,100 trailers as part of a circular economy initiative.

DSV Road CEO, Søren Schmidt, said the business aims to run a more sustainable operation.

“Realising those ambitions often involves high-level innovation and new technologies,” he said.

“But sometimes, we can achieve great value with solutions that are more straightforward. Refurbishing rather than replacing our trailers will enable us to save carbon while delivering services of a continued high quality to our customers.”

Typically, DSV uses a trailer for approximately five years before it returns it to the leasing company or manufacturer and instead leases a new trailer. Refurbishing a trailer after the first five years, DSV expects to add another full lifecycle of five years of use to the trailer.

Based on required input resources and applying recognised emission conversion factors, TIP Group has calculated an 18.6 tonnes carbon footprint of a newly produced curtainsider. Refurbishing a trailer entails significantly lower emissions. The refurbishment of DSV’s 1,100 trailers includes replacement of those parts of the trailers that are most subject to wear and tear, such as the brake discs, brake pads, airbags and side and roof curtains.

Based on TIP Group’s calculations, refurbishment of a used curtainsider emits an estimated 2.7 tonnes of CO2. This includes both materials, energy and heating used for the refurbishment. The difference in emissions between a new and a refurbished trailer shows emissions savings of an estimated 16 tonnes per trailer and approximately 18,000 tonnes for the total 1,100 trailers, which will be refurbished in 2023.

Introducing circular economy initiatives, such as refurbishing rather than replacing, can, according to DSV, be an effective tool for achieving emissions reductions.

“Refurbishing our trailers is a great example of how circular economy initiatives can bring us closer to realising our sustainability ambitions,” said Schmidt.

“With limited resources available globally, we must think smarter and more responsibly when it comes to the consumption of those resources.”

The refurbishment of the 1,100 trailers in 2023 kicks off DSV’s new trailer refurbishment program through which all DSV-owned trailers in its European network will undergo refurbishment at least once before the company returns the trailers to the manufacturer.

“Discovering the emissions reductions we can achieve through refurbishment, we have decided to establish a trailer refurbishment program,” said Schmidt.

“Practical circular economy initiatives such as this program will be pivotal in reducing DSV’s overall carbon footprint.”

DSV will put the first refurbished trailers on the road at the end of January 2023 and will finish refurbishing the last of the initial 1,100 trailers before the end of December 2023.

In other news, last year, DSV entered a strategic partnership with British fitness community and apparel brand, Gymshark

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