HHLA Aims to Become Carbon Neutral by 2040

German logistics and transportation company Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) has set sights on making the entire group climate neutral by 2040.

The company said that its sustainability strategy will now be realized under the “Balanced Logistics” brand.

 “We understand ‘Balanced Logistics’ as finding a balance between economic success, good working conditions, social responsibility and environmental and climate protection,” explained Angela Titzrath, Chairwoman of HHLA’s Executive Board at a press conference in Hamburg on Sunday, December 1st.

 “Those who invest in innovative, climate-friendly technologies at an early stage achieve sustainable results faster, which is to the benefit of shareholders, customers, staff members and society,” she said.

The container handling facility said that its operations are primarily powered by green electricity, adding that the company’s terminal processes that still produce CO₂ emissions today are either being gradually electrified or that their transition to electrification is being tested.

The facility has 14 electric container gantry cranes that load and unload containers to and from ships in the four berths at Altenwerder Container Terminal as well as around 90 automated guided vehicles that transport the containers to the yard.

CTA became the first handling facility for containers in the world to be certified climate neutral by TÜV Nord in 2019.

The company is also involved in other climate-friendly projects such as wind farms in India and low-friction anti-fouling paint for ships through which it aims to offset its remaining carbon footprint.

“The self-imposed target to reduce CO₂ emissions per handled container by at least 30 percent by 2020 was thus achieved ahead of time last year. We are now setting new targets. We’re working on halving our absolute CO₂ emissions by 2030 compared to the figures from 2018. The aim is to make the entire HHLA Group climate neutral by 2040,” Titzrath continued.

HHLA has developed HHLA Pure, a product that aims to ensure climate-neutral transport chains from the port into the European hinterland. As part of the project, the company has partnered up with the intermodal company Metrans using energy-efficient electric trains and lightweight flat wagons to transport more containers with the same train length.

Following a successful pilot phase HHLA Pure will be brought onto the market in 2020, HHLA said.