By shifting the transportation mode from truck to rail between Barcelona port and Tarragona terminal, IKEA Supply Chain Operations is cutting their green house (GHG) from their long-haul transports in Spain by around 700 tons per year.

“Maersk´s offering goes beyond moving cargo from A to B. We grow together with our customers, building tailor-made solutions based on sustainability and prioritization. For us, it is crucial to dig into our customers ´needs as well as their current operations and find the needful additions that support offering and implementing truly sustainable solutions,” explains Diego Perdones Montero, Managing Director for South West Europe & Maghreb Area at Maersk.

Before the project started back in September 2020, the routing of freight from Barcelona port Terminal to Valls (Customer Warehouse & Distribution) was done by truck. Now, train is transporting the goods from the port to the Tarragona Terminal, a distance of 100 km. The intermodal solution is managed and operated by APM Railways. The last transport distance, from Tarragona Terminal to IKEA Valls Distribution Centre (30 kms), is still done by truck.

Provided an annual volume forecasted of 10.000 containers, this shift reduces the IKEA Supply Chain Operations footprint on this transport flow by 75%.

“IKEA´s goal is to become climate positive by 2030. For us in IKEA Supply Chain Operations this translates into reducing the emissions from every transport that we do by an average of -70%. We believe in a diversified portfolio of solutions to decarbonise transportation and there is no silver bullet. It is through innovative collaborations and close partnerships with our service providers, like Maersk, that we can make the needed, ambitious steps to reach our goal”, says Elisabeth Munck af Rosenschöld, Sustainability Manager in IKEA Supply Chain Operations.

Maersk´s tailored solution for IKEA Supply Chain Operations in Spain has already been replicated in Italy switching approximately 2.000 containers (FFEs) from truck to rail for the transport flow from the APM Terminals terminal in Vado to the IKEA Distribution Centre in Piacenza.

“Our innovation was based on thinking outside the box and actually venture ourselves into a multicarrier mindset instead of a Maersk container (carrier haulage) only. This is a true story of collaboration and integrator vision that puts customers in the core of what we do. This project has fortified our relationship with the customer, and we -Maersk Spain and APMR Railways- are now seen as a trustworthy partner for IKEA Supply AG locally and globally,” adds Diego Perdones Montero.