Transport and planning

Our transport consists of various parts: milk transport from the dairy farm to one of our factories and the transport of our products from the factories to the customer. We try to keep fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions to a minimum by means of smart planning and by using fuel-efficient tank lorries.

“In Scharsterbrug, we process a lot of low-fat milk every year. To this end, the milk in the Northern Netherlands must first be skimmed. As our skimming capacity is limited, a lot of whole milk now goes to Gorinchem. In its place, skimmed milk must again be transported to Scharsterbrug. That makes for a lot of unnecessary mileage. That's why we want to increase our skimming capacity in Scharsterbrug in the short term; this is a great sustainability step.”

Elena Rosier - Planner & Business Administrator

MMC
Our Mobile Milk Collection (MMC) carriers drive some 3 million km per year to bring our dairy farmers' milk to our factories. The carbon emissions from transport per kilogram of milk in 2022 were almost 40% lower compared to 2013 levels. The carbon reductions were mainly achieved by planning trips more efficiently and by additional measures taken by our carriers, such as the use of newer and cleaner lorries. A number of these carriers are also applying carbon offset mechanisms.

Transport to the customer
In 2022, we looked at options for making our transport within Europe more sustainable. We have made more use of train transport and short sea transport to further destinations within Europe, reducing road mileage. For the transport of end products, we will continue to do as much pre-transport to the ports by water as possible, making maximum use of the cargo space.

In Gorinchem, 90% of our end products were transported by water (2021: 91.2%), in Scharsterbrug, 89% (2021: 87.3%) and in Barneveld, 83% (2021: 79%). In 2023, we will use an inland shipping terminal for Scharsterbrug that is closer to our factory and we will provide our pre-transport by water for export from Putten. Last year, we also started research into the use of electric transport and/or biofuel by our carriers. We will continue with this in 2023 in order to come up with specific plans.

Warehouse expansion
In addition, we are expanding our own warehouse at our factory in Gorinchem. This involves an expansion by approximately 1,750 pallet places, which is expected to be completed by the end of March 2023. This expansion will save us a significant amount of unnecessary mileage to and from external sites.

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