Göttingen, February 8th ,2024 — On February 6th, the ZUFALL logistics group hosted the first ZUFALL Sustainability Day in Grammetal near Weimar. The event at the conference centre of the ADAC Driving Safety Center Thuringia focused on electromobility and its current developments in vehicles, infrastructure, and the recording and reporting of CO₂ emissions. In addition to presentations by representatives from industry, politics, and the ZUFALL logistics group, the company presented four of its new e-trucks which were purchased at the beginning of the year. In total there will be 14 e-trucks from Mercedes, DAF and Volvo, which will be added to the fleet in the coming months. This means that 25 percent of the company’s own fleet will already consist of emission-free vehicles from this year on.

ZUFALL has invested a total of 7.9 million euros in e-trucks and their charging infrastructure. Both were funded by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport with a total of 3.78 million euros as part of the directive on the promotion of light and heavy commercial vehicles with alternative, climate-friendly drive systems and the associated refueling and charging infrastructure The funding guideline is coordinated by NOW GmbH and applications were approved by the Federal Logistics and Mobility Office.

Electromobility at ZUFALL

The newly acquired e-trucks will be used in Göttingen, Fulda, Haiger, Kassel and Nohra and connect all the company’s freight forwarding locations. Depending on their future area of use, some of the electrically powered trucks will be supplemented with tarpaulin superstructures or box bodies as well as semi-trailers. The e-trucks reduce the company’s overall CO₂ emissions. This is a further step by the ZUFALL logistics group to make logistics sustainable and part of a comprehensive transformation process that is constantly being reviewed and optimized by the company.

The advance of electromobility is demonstrated by the example of Volvo Group Trucks Central Europe GmbH. “As a leading series manufacturer of battery-electric trucks, Volvo Trucks has been on the road to zero emissions since 2018. In 2023, the momentum has increased significantly with around 2,000 orders from Northern and Central Europe. This corresponds to an increase of 30 percent,“ reports Torsten Oehler, salesman at Popp Fahrzeugbau GmbH. In his presentation, he and Christian Jaekel, Popp Branch Manager Sales, gave an overview of various alternative drive systems and their benefits, particularly in relation to ZUFALL´s latest investments.

Innovations in charging technology

One challenge in the expansion of electromobility is the charging infrastructure. Denis Schuldig, Managing Director of TEAG Mobil GmbH, also recognizes this. In his presentation, the expert on the expansion of charging network in Thuringia reports: “The electrification oft trucks is picking up speed quickly. In public spaces, trucks are squeezing into car charging spaces. We want to change that.“

Parallel to the purchase of the electric trucks, ZUFALL is building its own charging infrastructure with a total of 20 charging points. In a first step, new transformer stations will provide a charging capacity of 200 kW per charging point, making it possible for a vehicle to be charged from 15 to 85 percent within two hours. The infrastructure is set up in such a way that sufficient capacity will be available to operate megawatt charging stations in the future.

Recording and reporting CO₂ emissions

From 2024, large companies and, in the two following years, small and medium-sized enterprises will have to record and report their CO₂ emissions as part of the European Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). With its expertise in data management, analytics and sustainability, shipzero focuses on transforming environmental and quality management in transport and logistics. “Political framework conditions require companies to measure and report on CO₂ in order to gain an economic overview and trigger targeted action in this area,“ explains Tobias Bohnhoff, CEO and co-founder of shipzero.

Gunnar Heunisch, Head of Quality and Environmental Management at ZUFALL, believes that logistics companies have a clear responsibility here. CO2 is the new currency in logistics. As logistics companies, we have a huge amount of leverage to initiate changes and reduce our emissions.“ As a result of the new EU CSRD directive, he sees a changing dynamic regarding the topic, even if the reporting obligation does not yet exist for all companies. Gunnar Heunisch adds: “At ZUFALL, we are actively pulling the lever. “

Consciously making logistics sustainable

The principles of ZUFALL’s sustainability strategy consist of the triad of PEOPLE, PLANET and PROFIT and encompass environmental and economic sustainability aspects as well as social justice. CEO and owner of the ZUFALL logistics group Peter Müller-Kronberg explains: “Our aim is for our employees to enjoy working for us. The services we provide have to make sense for society and must also be good to the environment. And at the end of the day, we want to earn money. Therefore, the aim is not to earn money despite sustainability, but with sustainability.”

Wolfgang Tiefensee, Thuringia’s Minister of Economic Affairs, also sees sustainability as a way to achieve long term crisis resilience. “The ZUFALL logistics group focuses on multi-perspective sustainability and equity. Its motto ´People, Planet, Profit´ addresses important problem areas such as employee retention, decarbonization and long-term profitability. The company’s commitment is also reflected in its membership of the Thuringia Sustainability Agreement, which, with the support of companies and ministries, promotes networking and commitment to a sustainable future,” he explained.

Press/company contact:

Friedrich Zufall GmbH & Co. KG
Internationale Spedition
Robert-Bosch-Breite 11
37079 Göttingen
www.zufall.de

Kirsten Kanne
PR and public relations
Tel: 0551 / 607-450
presse@zufall.de

About the ZUFALL logistics group

The ZUFALL logistics group is a family-run transport and logistics service provider. Founded in 1928 in Kassel, the company is now based in Göttingen. The company is divided into two major business areas: Transport and Logistics. The transport division includes overland transport in Germany and Europe, Night Star Express, air and sea freight, and customs service. The logistics division focuses on contract logistics, involving customer-oriented, longstanding cooperations between companies and logistics service providers.

With approx. 2,100 employees at 11 locations throughout Germany, the company handles around 5 million consignments per year and generated a turnover of around 430 million euros in the last financial year.

The company has set out to make logistics more sustainable and mindful. In 2019, ZUFALL founded the zufall.lab in Göttingen. In this experimental workshop, the focus is on research and development. Here, the logistics service provider tests new logistical approaches, prototypes, and processes for better and more sustainable logistics of tomorrow.