Sustainability and Environment Protection of PWL Group

General information

Within the framework of our business operations maritime and logistics service provider without our own transport vehicles, real estate and other storage and handling areas, we try to keep the impact of our entrepreneurial activities on the environment as low as possible and thus meet the aspects of sustainability. Our sustainability efforts are based on the code of conduct.

Mission statement

In order to realize our claim, we have defined the following environmental guidelines as binding contents of our business policy:

We comply with the environmentally relevant requirements and laws. We undertake to comply with the relevant laws and regulations as well as the requirements imposed on us with regard to environmental protection and occupational safety and, in addition, to achieve our own objectives.
We consider the protection of the environment and economical use of natural resources as our social obligation.

1. We are guided by the guiding principle of sustainable management.
2. We use energy, raw materials and water sparingly.
3. We avoid environmental pollution such as waste, waste water, emissions and noise or keep them as low as possible.
4. The effects of our activities on the environment are recorded, evaluated and translated into targets and measures for improvement. We are committed to working continuously to reduce environmental pollution.
5. We integrate all environmentally relevant business processes into our management system and constantly seek improvements.
6. We promote the environmental awareness of our employees in order to protect the environment together in all areas of the company and to use raw materials and energy economically.
7. We are actively committed to a balanced relationship between ecology and economy in order to leave our children with an environment worth living in.
8. Environmental aspects

Since no own materials are transported and no own vehicles are used for the transport of our customers, the greatest potential exists for the lowest possible consumption of resources by transport through the best possible consultation of our customers by the sales department on the one hand, and the best possible supplier and mode of transport selection of the operative area on the other hand. Thus, a functioning environmental management system is only possible through the willingness and participation of all process participants within the company.

Detached from the transport economic aspect, we strive to make our operational processes in everyday office life as efficient and resource-saving as possible, which naturally has an effect on the business aspects. In the following we would like to go into the individual aspects of operational and transport-based actions in more detail.

Transport-based options

The possibilities of influence in the execution of our transport service consists mainly in the best possible analysis of the available modes of transport in order to organise the service requested by the customer to the satisfaction of the client, taking into account the factors of time, costs and environmental influences such as CO2 emissions/tkm. Here, one focus is on the selection of the appropriate suppliers such as shipping companies, truck, rail and inland waterway operators. Here, too, we notice that the issue of sustainability of transport services is becoming more and more important for our suppliers. Our top 3 suppliers for sea transport now have ISO 14001 certification and local transport service providers are also intensively addressing these issues.

When advising our customers, we always keep an eye on new transport concepts such as rail transport to and from the Far East in order to avoid air freight of entire containers for our customers and to avoid unnecessary environmental pollution. Furthermore, in the last 2 years we have been able to improve a new transport concept for a customer and to optimize his worldwide flow of goods through crosstrades and the use of free trade zones in individual countries, thus avoiding unnecessary transports to central warehouses in Europe.

Operational possibilities

The operational environmental influences around companies can be roughly divided into 4 areas: sales, location, IT infrastructure and office supplies. In the area of sales, for example, we attach importance to the selection of promotional gifts for our customers. The aim is to distribute only valuable promotional gifts to our customers that are actually and gladly used and do not end up in the trash directly after the visit, thus only causing unnecessary resources in production and transport and actually only producing additional waste. When travelling on business, sales staff are encouraged to use public transport wherever possible and to take a taxi only in an emergency. All company vehicles naturally have a green environmental sticker.

When choosing the location for the Bremen office in 2004, we deliberately decided to maintain the central location in the city centre, as the proximity to the main railway station makes it ideal for employees to use public transport such as buses, trams and trains. Since many employees live in the city area, the workplace is also easily accessible by bicycle for many of them. These connections would not have been possible at alternative locations such as the Technology Park or Überseestadt. The building was last renovated in 2015 and energy consumption was further reduced by installing new windows and additional insulation on the facade and roof.

By using the latest IT infrastructure and data interfaces to our customers and service providers, we try to limit the printing of documents and e-mails to the bare minimum. Due to the trend towards "digital original documents" and the changeover to seawaybills, the unnecessary sending of original B/L is also reduced. The archiving of our filing takes place in a digital archive, which additionally avoids printouts. Meanwhile almost all workstations are equipped with a second screen to simplify the transfer of data in different systems for the employees and to avoid the unnecessary consumption of paper and toner. Invoices and reminders are sent to our customers as far as possible by e-mail or via the invoice portals of our customers. In addition, we would like to point out to our service providers that we wish to send invoices electronically.

We also pay attention to the multiple use of paper clips, transparent folders, etc. for other office supplies and ensure that these are removed before archiving.

Emergency precautions and danger prevention

To avert danger, we have, on the one hand, expert employees who, for example, in the event of an accident involving the transport of dangerous goods or the leakage of dangerous goods from the transport unit, immediately inform the necessary authorities in order to keep possible effects on the environment caused by the leakage of hazardous substances as low as possible. For this reason, the persons involved in the transport of hazardous substances are regularly trained by the dangerous goods officer. In order to avoid industrial accidents in the company, a service contract exists with the company ASUMED for the risk assessment of workplaces, compliance with fire protection regulations, etc. In addition, instruction on workplace safety and emergency plans is provided by AIS.

Analysis & Evaluation

For analysis and evaluation, we use the annual service provider analysis to monitor which important service providers have implemented an environmental management system. Furthermore, we try to identify factors influencing changes in the modal split and to what extent we can control them.

When analysing internal processes, we examine the cause for fluctuations in the costs of office materials and vehicle fleet in order to achieve our corporate goals in the most environmentally friendly and cost-optimised way possible. In addition, we must regularly participate in sustainability training courses with subsequent review of our major customers. This also includes a CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) rating by EcoVadis, whereby the sustainability of suppliers is examined and evaluated.

Goals

Through intensive cooperation between IT and the operational departments, we want to better analyse the workflows in order to check where there are opportunities for digitisation. One example is the direct archiving of e-mails and e-mail attachments into the archiving system. In addition, the increased use of forwarding software for internal documents should further reduce the number of printouts per order.

Through more targeted coordination with our customers, direct truck transports over 150 km distance are to be avoided if possible, if the goods allow it. This is only possible with timely planning and notification with our customers to avoid short-term transports. Through the targeted selection of our contractual partners for long-term business we want to expand our cooperation with environmentally conscious suppliers. In this respect, we have been working for years with companies that have repeatedly distinguished themselves through innovations in their vehicle fleets and efficient use of storage and handling capacities. Promoting environmental awareness among employees by means of targeted topics at monthly meetings. Reduction of exhaust emissions by exclusively using company vehicles with EURO 5 and EURO 6 standards and higher. When purchasing new lighting equipment, LED technology is to be used to a greater extent to further reduce energy consumption.