15 December 2020

Cosun Beet Company piloting “beet by barge” to reduce CO2 emissions

Cosun Beet Company is holding a pilot project to transport sugar beet from south Limburg to the sugar factory in Dinteloord by barge during the current beet campaign. The pilot must determine whether this mode of transport reduces CO2 emissions and also cuts costs. It is an initiative of the Circular Sugar Beet Green Circles in which a variety of organisations are working together to increase the sustainability of beet logistics.

Cosun Beet Company is stepping up its efforts to make its supply chain more sustainable from farm to fork and to eventually become CO2 neutral. CO2 reduction is also a pressing issue in North Brabant and the province wants to reduce the congestion on its roads, especially around the Eindhoven hub.

Green Circles is a collaborative alliance in which companies, public authorities and knowledge centres in a particular region work together to accelerate sustainability. One of its members, MCA Brabant, has carried out an extensive study of the best transport mode for Cosun Beet Company to transport beet from the areas located furthest from its factory. MCA Brabant is a consultancy specialising in multimodal goods transport. It concluded that combined transport, with barges playing a key role, produced the lowest CO2 emissions and costs and performed better than trucks alone.

New: containers
Cosun Beet Company has launched the pilot scheme to test whether the best solution on paper also works in practice. The beet will be carried both as a bulk cargo and in containers, which is new to Cosun Beet Company. The pilot must demonstrate how this transport, including transport to and from the barges, works in practice. The quality of the beet during transportation and storage (they must not suffer any damage or lose sugar content) will be a decisive factor.

Four million kilometres
“If the pilot is a success, including the choice for bulk or containers, we will certainly change our transport mode,” says Arno Huijsmans, AgriLogistics manager at Cosun Beet Company. “This will immediately remove 14,000 trucks from the roads, freeing up more than four million kilometres. We could even end up using barges in other regions, too. The results will then be even more impressive.”

For more information, please contact Arno Huijsmans, AgriLogistics manager at Cosun Beet Company: +31 (0)165 525 267.

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