Sustainability is rapidly becoming a major area of focus in the transportation and logistics sector. 28% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions originate with transportation activities, according to the EPA. Business leaders are increasingly looking to their fleets and those of their carrier partners to move the needle on reducing their carbon footprint.
For transportation and logistics leaders, this challenge is also an opportunity to advance ambitious initiatives and make highly visible contributions to company-wide goals. But making a positive and lasting impact on sustainability takes more than a piecemeal adoption of green tech. It requires strategic, systematic thinking — and that starts with your logistics data.
Data is the lifeblood of the logistics industry. Shippers and carriers alike carefully analyze data points from fuel prices to miles driven to minimize costs, avoid delays and optimize their operations. By approaching this data through a sustainability lens, you can unlock new environmental benefits.
Data Management Challenges
While logistics organizations may handle large quantities of data, they don’t always have the tools and infrastructure to leverage it effectively. Since sustainability efforts affect the whole organization, they require a cross-functional approach — but internal silos may prevent data from flowing where it needs to go. If clear governance guidelines are not in place, data quality issues may also impede progress toward your goals.
In addition to managing your own organization’s data, accurately tracking many sustainability issues, such as measuring scope 3 emissions, may require visibility into data collected by your partners as well.
Before undertaking any data-driven sustainability initiatives, your first step should be to audit your existing data management structures. Address any basic data hygiene issues and eliminate internal barriers that hinder effective data sharing across teams or with partners. This will position your organization for success as you develop your data-driven transportation and logistics sustainability framework.
With the right infrastructure and processes in place, you can begin to leverage rich logistics data to drive progress on your organization’s sustainability KPIs. Strategies to explore include:
1. Emissions tracking improvements
Monitoring and reporting on carbon emissions and other environmental metrics is extremely important for measuring the success of your sustainability initiatives and generating buy-in from key stakeholders. But measuring your carbon footprint is easier said than done. You need to factor in not only emissions from your own vehicle fleet, but those of carriers and partners across your supply chain.
Tracking these various data points and reporting on progress toward goals is vital — and requires a mature analytics infrastructure. You’ll likely need to integrate your transportation management system (TMS) with your carriers’ systems to ensure you can access the data you need.
2. Route optimization
The fewer miles your drivers drive — and the less time they spend idling their vehicles in traffic — the lower your emissions will be. Minimize travel time by building an intelligent route optimization system trained on historical transportation data to recommend the optimal path for each delivery.
In addition, consider where you can leverage other modes of transportation to both save carbon and decrease costs. Intermodal is less expensive and more fuel-efficient than over-the-road trucking in many cases. With a robust optimization solution, you can route shipments along multi-modal paths that meet both your sustainability goals and supply chain needs.
3. Empty miles reduction
Every mile you spend transporting empty space is pure waste, not only in terms of emissions but also in terms of driver and asset capacity. By balancing your network to reduce empty miles, such as decreasing the distance a driver travels to pick up the next load, you can significantly reduce both your carbon footprint and costs.
Data analytics can also help you plan shipments so more containers are filled to capacity — for example, by combining orders from multiple customers. In addition, you can leverage load-balancing algorithms to maximize payload capacity without exceeding weight limits. Both of these activities help you maximize efficiency and avoid unnecessary trips, reducing your overall emissions.
4. Preventative maintenance
With the right data and machine learning-based tools, you can anticipate and prevent vehicle breakdowns. By analyzing data from vehicle sensors, predictive algorithms can recommend preventative maintenance before issues arise. This not only reduces downtime due to repairs, but it also optimizes engine performance. A leading trucking company that implemented this solution found they not only experienced fewer unscheduled maintenance events, but also reduced their trucks’ fuel consumption due to improved engine efficiency.
A Greener Future
The transportation and logistics industry is going green in response to growing pressure for climate action. Your organization can stay ahead of the curve by investing in the infrastructure, processes and tools that empower you to leverage data to reach your sustainability goals. Besides reducing emissions and environmental impact, you’ll boost operational efficiency — an added bonus for your business.
