Cooperation between Nokia and Danzas, the world's leading provider of logistic services, goes back a long time. It is covered by a frame agreement. In addition to providing logistics services like air, road and sea transport, Danzas takes responsibility for Nokia's specified drop-off points and logistics centers, known as hubs.
As Nokia's logistics supplier, Danzas is required to have documented environmental management systems (EMS). The EMS built and being built at Danzas are set to the same level as those of Nokia production plants.
Danzas activities in the Nordic and Baltic states as well as in Austria, Germany and the Netherlands are ISO 14001 certified. Work aimed for certified EMS is to be continued and successively taken into use globally.
Goal: Reducing Emissions during Transportation
The foremost environmental aspect of Danzas' operations is the consumption of fossil fuels in the various modes of transportation used in outbound logistics from the hubs. Consumption of fossil fuels causes carbon dioxide emissions that are understood to be linked with global climate change known as the greenhouse effect. The current focus of cooperation with Nokia is establishing a reliable figure for the total of carbon dioxide emissions during the outbound logistics stage of the life cycle of Nokia products.
Emission aggregates can be calculated on the basis of transportation mileage, tons and loading rates reported by Danzas. Environmental manager Ellinor Nordenström of Danzas Nordic, Baltic and CIS stresses the importance of working for continuous improvement.
"We carefully analyze our options for minimizing carbon dioxide emissions. It is our daily work to decide which kinds of airplanes, which kinds of ships and which kinds of trucks will be used to best serve the customer. We put demands on our suppliers to work for continuous improvement, to employ better trucks, trucks running on alternative fuels, for example."
Cooperation Leads to Useful Figures
Air and sea freight is the responsibility of environmental and quality manager Jouni Sormunen, who works for Danzas AEI Intercontinental Oy at the Helsinki airport. He has experience in the successful piloting of a model for calculation of emissions caused by airfreight. To get the whole picture, emissions caused by other modes of transportation used need to be included in the calculation.
Ellinor Nordenström says this involves going beyond averages to establish the actual multi-modal split, that is, the distribution of emissions among the different modes of transportation. This can only be done in cooperation with a large globally operating service provider.
Land-based transport is the responsibility of environmental manager Arja Huotari, who works for Danzas ASG Euro-cargo Oy in Helsinki. She says that Danzas is currently evaluating the possibility of developing a model for calculating the multi-modal emission splits together with VTT, the Technical Research Center of Finland. Such a model would enable Nokia to provide reliable reports on the environmental impact of the logistics of its products.
"Based on our information about Nokia's material movements, we will be able to propose environmentally better solutions. The earlier in the process we come in, the better are our possibilities of choosing the best alternatives. This calls for close cooperation."
Broader Research Supported by Daily Practices
While looking for ways to reduce the environmental impact of customer logistics Danzas works to improve its own environmental performance. This includes careful planning of travel by personnel, reduction of energy consumption and the evaluation of sources of energy on environmental grounds, as well as minimizing and sorting waste.