Sainbury’s trials food deliveries on the Thames
Sainsbury’s, has reported a trial for environmentally-friendly way of delivering food to its stores as a success. The supermarket has recently transported food on the Thames, as it did originally in 1869.
The journey would mean that once food is dispatched by a Sainsbury’s distribution centre in South East London, the day’s delivery for the store would be shipped by barge, rather than by road, arriving in close proximity to the west London store. If rolled out to stores in the same area, this could save 350,000 road kilometres every year.
Moving freight to the river could contribute to Sainsbury’s new target of reducing CO2 emissions by 25% by 2012; outlined along with other tough targets in its corporate responsibility report issued this week.
The trial is one of many projects Sainsbury’s is exploring to be more energy efficient, particularly in the area of transport and operations, where it aims to reduce the distance its fleet and suppliers travel by 5 million kilometres by 2010.
Roger Burnley, supply chain director, Sainsbury’s, said:
“The trial, in conjunction with the Port of London Authority was a success, and proved there are alternatives for us to be more efficient as a business, environmentally sustainable, and cause less congestion on busy London roads. But it’s interesting that one of the ways we could do this is by revisiting how we operated when we set up shop almost 140 years ago.
“It’s in our heritage to manage and reduce our environmental impact, and using the Thames is an extremely efficient way of doing this. We take corporate responsibility very seriously, and projects like this can contribute to how we’re tackling issues such as energy efficiency and the transportation of food head on.”
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