Investments and partnerships needed to establish green transport corridors

“Green transport corridors across the Delta region and indeed across Europe are
central to delivering on the European Green Deal. For green corridors to become a reality, we need innovative partnerships and strong commitments from industry as well as governments to invest in key infrastructure such as electric charging stations and hydrogen refuelling stations,” says Niklas Andersson, EVP Logistics in DFDS.

DFDS has a commitment to becoming a net zero emitter by 2050. Targets will be achieved through significant investments in green solutions including a commitment to having 25% of its fleet of trucks being battery electric by 2030.

DFDS is also ramping up solar and wind energy production at their own sites to provide energy needed for charging of e-trucks.

The e-truck is the first of 125 that DFDS has ordered from Volvo Trucks for delivery through 2023 to become operational in the DFDS fleet. In 2021, DFDS and Volvo Trucks initiated a joint project for sustainable road transport. After an initial trial period in Gothenburg, Sweden, the new Volvo FH Electric Truck is being delivered at a launch event in Ghent on 16 November.

“The need to accelerate the transition to fossil-free transport is becoming increasingly clear. Therefore, I am very proud of the partnership we have with DFDS and this important step that they take today. Together, we are showing the world that electrified heavy truck transport is a viable solution already today,” says Roger Alm, President Volvo Trucks.

The Flemish-Dutch Delta is a hub for sustainable solutions

Both the Dutch and Belgian governments have established their 10-year national energy and climate plans and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo participates in the launch event of the e-truck in Ghent on 16 November and speaks on the Belgian government’s initiatives for a green transition in the region.

DFDS is very active in the Flemish-Dutch Delta region and operates a multi-modal logistics offering out of the terminal in Ghent with six ships a week between Ghent and Gothenburg taking 30.000 lane meters of cargo off the road. In addition DFDS handles 20 trains between Sweden, France, Italy, Austria and Belgium and six container barges between Ghent, Rotterdam and Antwerp per week.

“The Flemish-Dutch Delta is a central logistics hub in Europe and in DFDS we see great opportunity for transitioning our full range of logistics offerings across ferry, trucking and warehousing in the region to more sustainable solutions,” says Niklas Andersson.

“At the same time, we need to bring down the price differentials between solutions running on green versus black energy in order to make decarbonization commercially viable. DFDS is partnering with other companies and organisations to investigate and develop new solutions. And we are calling on policy makers to promote standardization of infrastructure and invest in technologies that can lead to climate neutral transportation at a competitive price.”