Supporting initiatives to decarbonise its customers supply chains in Latin America, A.P. Moller – Maersk  conducted two pilots to provide electric truck capabilities to customers in Brazil. The pilots were done with heavy-duty tractor units, that would allow the transportation of containers.

The two-week pilots were carried out with two different EV truck manufacturers in Brazil. To analyse the possibilities of providing landside connectivity, the pilots were conducted in the metropolitan region of São Paulo on a 100 km span between Barueri – Barra Funda – São Bernardo do Campo (charging station), and in the state of Santa Catarina between Itapoa – Araquari (round trip) on a 230 km span.
Intermodal connectivity is crucial to link Brazil’s population with goods arriving and being exported in the ports. With 60% of Brazilians living within 200 km of the coast, cabotage is vital, but integrating rail, trucking, and support distribution centres is key to ensure end-to-end- integrated logistics. The growing need for landside transport capacity makes it even more important to ensure that we’re also able to provide sustainable solutions for these important transportation modes in the region. In Brazil, we are building a comprehensive network with the goal of seamlessly integrating the entire logistics process for our customers and reducing emissions. Our evaluation of sustainable alternatives, including electrified heavy trucking, in a region where such options are limited, provides us with valuable insights to drive tangible progress toward our 2040 net-zero commitment.

Karin Schoner
Managing Director for the East Coast of South America at Maersk
For the pilots, Maersk installed electric charging stations in its operational areas to ensure night-time charging. The reliance of logistics facilities and land transportation on renewable electricity sources is closely tied to factors such as local infrastructure investment requirements and support from local regulations. Currently, electric vehicles and alternative energy solutions are only available on a limited scale in these contexts.

To achieve climate neutral landside transportation solutions by 2040, Maersk is prioritising electrification in heavy-duty trucking in collaboration with customers with 100% renewable electricity sourced, as well as identifying one time emission reduction opportunities within the modal shift.
This pilot will facilitate the test and develop of sustainable solutions for our customers, that can help them deliver on their environmental and ESG objectives. In our journey to become net zero by 2040, Maersk will continue searching sustainable solutions in the Latin American, to meet both the rising demand from our customers for a cleaner end-to-end integrated logistics, as well as delivering on our own decarbonisation commitments.

Alexis Rodriguez
Head of Energy Transition Execution for Latin America at Maersk
The call for more sustainable business practices is coming from both consumers and customers alike. Remarkably, over half of Maersk’s top 200 customers have already committed to the UN Global Compact, which calls for support of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Furthermore, two-thirds of our 200 customers have set net-zero or science-based targets.

To meet the need for end-to-end sustainable logistics solutions, Maersk is actively exploring opportunities in regions where infrastructure for reducing emissions on land is not readily available. Currently, Maersk is evaluating the results of a pilot test in Brazil to determine scalability of integrating these solutions into the region’s product portfolio, providing customers with a broader range of sustainable transportation options.

Source: Maersk