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specially amended buses halved and the number of participating agencies increased. The acceptance of hydrogen fuel vehicles depends on the extra purchase price for the vehicle and the availability of fuel. Yet at the same time, fuelling stations will only offer hydrogen fuel if there is a marketable number of vehicles consuming hydrogen.
The next step for public acceptance of hydrogen fuel is the development of a distribution infrastructure. In an initiative called ‘H2 mobility’, car manufacturers, energy companies, petrol station operators and hydrogen producers are collaborating to erect a hydrogen fuelling infrastructure with the overall aim of installing at least 400 hydrogen pumps at petrol stations across Germany. Each hydrogen pump installation is estimated to cost approximately 1 million Euros. The supply to the fuelling stations is planned to use conventional trailers transporting liquefied hydrogen under pressure, but there are also thoughts towards a decentralized production network.
SOuRCE Linde Group Gases Division, www.linde.com/hydrogen.
After the choice of transport mode and the choice of fuel, freight transport’s emissions can also be reduced through operational optimization, improve- ments in the network design and further technology that can support these improvements.
Operational options to reduce emissions
One way of operating transport vehicles and vessels on less fuel is to run them at their engines’ optimal level. In international shipping this concept is called ‘slow steaming’ and came up during the economic downturn in 2007.
Usually the world’s fleet engines are designed to run at full load, but that is not the most fuel-efficient way to run these engines. With the existing over- capacities during the economic turmoil, shipping lines started to run their ships at slower speeds to save fuel (Delft, 2012; MAN, 2012). A ship like the Emma Maersk – currently the world’s largest container ship – would save about 4,000 tonnes of bunker fuel on a trip from Europe to Singapore. When a ship runs at lower speed it needs longer to accomplish a journey. A ship running from Hong Kong to Rotterdam that was scheduled to take 21 days would take 23 days using slow steaming. Using extra days means a ship can make fewer journeys in a given amount of time, but due to the overcapacities in the global shipping market, this issue became less important. A side benefit
Freight Transport 81 of slow steaming is the increased reliability of shipping schedules, as the slow steaming provides a natural buffer for delays (A P Møller Maersk, 2011).
Another economically attractive operational improvement is the reduc- tion of empty running in transport fleets. As shown in the discussion of transport modes, the environmental performance depends strongly on load- ing factors and the utilization of operating vehicles. Transport companies naturally have an interest in finding a load for the way back anyway and the question is therefore more about why empty running occurs and how trans- port companies can be supported in finding backloading opportunities. An increase in utilization and a reduction of empty journeys will consequently reduce the total number of journeys and therefore reduce emissions.
The discussion on backhauling has two aspects: the issue of empty running and the underutilization of vehicles. Both can happen for the same reasons.
Logistics strategies like just-in-time can be a factor when the arrival within the correct time window is more important than the availability of suitable backhauling opportunities. Many goods also have special transport characteristics, which means they are not compatible to be transported in the same vehicle as other goods, for example livestock and pharmaceuticals.
Also, tankers transporting chemicals can only backload the same product or need to be cleaned before loading other chemicals. Vehicles may also be running underutilized because they follow a particular schedule; for exam- ple, aircraft and ships usually need to follow a schedule regardless of their loading factor on a particular journey. Also, transport equipment may not be suitable for other goods and there may be directional imbalances. For example, timber logs are usually transported on special trailers. First, those trailers are designed for timber logs and cannot be used for many other goods, and second, there is a lack of goods that need to be transported back to the place where timber is harvested. Imbalances in schedules can also cause underutilization. Delivery patterns vary and there is less demand for freight transport during the weekend. Many countries will also limit freight transport during times when the road network is particularly busy, for example during public holidays.
Transport operators may also often not be aware of backloading oppor- tunities. Electronic platforms give transport companies easier access to potential backhauling. Opportunities to improve vehicle utilization can also exist in their own supply chain with customers and suppliers, but also with competitors. Despite being competitors, Nestlé and United Biscuits in the UK collaborate in their freight transport on one route where both own sites at either end. By combining their freight transport, they save
on annual basis around 95,000 litres of diesel, 250 tonnes of CO2 and around £300,000. Although such collaboration needs to cross many barri- ers and results in additional management effort, these are outweighed by the savings (IGD, 2009).
Underutilization can be caused by these directional imbalances, but also by product characteristics. If goods cannot be stacked on top of each other, the operator cannot use the full volume of the vehicle. Similarly, if a product is very heavy – for example steel – the vehicle will be quite empty, but it’s already at the maximum weight capacity. The same problem applies to very light products, which may fill an entire trailer, but do not by far reach weight capacity. Vehicles are regulated in their dimensions and weight capacity and a load can only rarely perfectly match these determinants. As the dimensions of vehicles are regulated, initiatives to introduce larger and heavier lorries evolved. After initial pilot tests, ‘gigaliners’ are currently being further tested for approved use in Germany. These vehicles have a length of 25.25 metres and a capacity of 44 tonnes (the maximum length for lorries at the moment being 18.75 metres) and have been used in the less-populated Nordic coun- tries for some time. The gigaliners are expected to save up to 20 per cent of CO2 compared to the usual HGVs. Nevertheless, critics fear damage to the infrastructure and, due to the length of the trailer, additional congestion and an increased risk of accidents when overtaking the gigaliners (Süddeutsche Zeitung, 2015).
Vehicle design improvements within the regulated dimensions can also contribute to the reduction of emissions. Modern vehicles emit much fewer greenhouse gases, but there is a limit to the fuel efficiency that vehicles can achieve using traditional diesel engines. The aim of fuel efficiency is also in a trade-off with the emissions of other exhauster fumes. Regulations usually give priority to the reduction of health-damaging gases over the reduction of CO2, leaving an estimated residue of 7–10 per cent increase in fuel efficiency.
Another aspect of vehicle design is aerodynamic profiling, where the vehi- cle shape is designed in a way that the air flows as smoothly as possible around the vehicle to minimize the air resistance. Such design can for exam- ple be seen in ‘teardrop’ trailers, which show a slight arc when looking at them from the side. But additional spoilers and shields around the trailer also add weight to the vehicle, offsetting some of the fuel savings. This is also in contrast to the aim of minimizing the weight of the vehicle. The lighter a vehicle, the less energy is needed to move it when it’s empty and it also allows the loading of more weight onto it. In Europe, the maximum loaded weight is restricted to 40 tonnes, meaning that the weight saved on the vehicle can be used to load extra freight.
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Information technology
Developments in the areas of information technology and mobile commu- nication have opened huge potential for operational optimization in freight transport. On the one hand, software can optimize the routing, scheduling and loading of vehicles and online platforms make it easier to find back- loading opportunities. On the other hand, this information can also be communicated to the operating vehicle through so-called telematic systems.
In road freight, transport telematic systems connect the vehicle with the dispatching office. This way, operations can be optimized dynamically whilst they are running. Real-time routing can also consider and avoid motorway congestion and traffic accidents. By taking advantage of these opportuni- ties, telematic systems can save miles, increase backhauling and reduce fuel consumption through which overall emissions are reduced at the same time (Wenner and Trautrims, 2012).
Telematic systems can also be used for monitoring vehicles and driver behaviour. Monitoring the vehicle allows the above-mentioned dynamic optimization and also provides information to the company and its custom- ers about where a particular consignment is located. The information can also be used to comply with regulations, for example maximum driving hours, or to check on non-moving vehicles. Through monitoring driver behaviour, telematic systems allow the comparison of performances between drivers. Behaviour such as avoiding harsh braking, using the right gear and turning off the engine at idle times saves fuel and monitoring drivers’ perfor- mance can therefore be used to encourage environmentally friendly driving performance. However, telematic systems are a significant investment for hauliers. Their use is most common in larger fleets operating in markets that require frequent route optimization and communication between vehi- cle and office. Smaller haulage companies – the majority of the road freight transport providers – are much less likely to use telematic systems (Wenner and Trautrims, 2012). Nevertheless, telematic systems only cover the moni- toring side of driver behaviour. Positive environmental effects can only be achieved if drivers are trained about fuel saving.
Other measures to reduce fuel consumption are properly inflated tyres or automatic tyre inflation and automatic idle engine turn-off. However, measuring the potential fuel saving of all operational improvement actions is difficult as fuel savings can stem from numerous sources and are subject to many factors, for example the proportion of the journey time on motor- ways or the incline of roads. Comparing fuel efficiency between different fleets or countries is therefore difficult due to the specific situations and their influencing factors.