(openPR) - The warm winter, a dry month of April and heavy storms have fuelled the public debate in Germany about climate change. Can initiatives like city tolls, emission limits and speed restrictions really stop the greenhouse effect? These are important topics for the transport and logistics industry, whose commercial success depends on mobility and economic growth. The opening event at the trade fair transport logistic 2007 will therefore be looking at this whole issue and posing the question ‘Ecology, mobility and logistics – a contradiction in terms?’

On 12 June 2007, at 10 a.m., the world´s leading trade fair for logistics, telematics and transport opens with a look at what seems at first a controversial issue: ‘Ecology and Logistics’. Industry representatives such as Detthold Aden, Chairman of the BLG Logistics Group, Schenker Deutschland´s CEO Hans-Jörg Hager, Ulrich Ogiermann, Chairman of Cargolux, and the Secretary of State in the German Transport Ministry, Jörg Hennerkes, will be answering probing questions from TV presenter and head of the ntv stock-markets studio, Katja Dofel. In this discussion the companies will be explaining what they are doing currently as regards environmental protection and what supporting measures they would like from the policy-makers in government.

At first sight the concepts of ecology and economy don´t seem to fit together very well – one only has to think of the German potatoes that are transported to Poland for washing, or the pigs from North-Rhine Westphalia that are processed into Parma ham in Italy to sell in German discount stores and the North Sea shrimps that are sent by truck to Morocco for shelling. All three transports are in fact a profitable option to German companies, because truck transport is so cheap. So cheap that many companies can no longer to take an environmental approach.

While some demand more state regulation and affordable standard solutions, others have already turned environmental protection into a prime concern and are far exceeding the minimum legal requirements. Schenker Deutschland, for example, is using navigation systems to optimise route planning and software-supported planning. This reduces the number of empty miles and therefore emissions that are harmful to the climate. Positive side-effects are falling energy consumption, reduced wear and tear, less waste and therefore lower costs.

As yet such initiatives are only being pursued by a few pioneers. Their efforts reflect not only their own concerns about climate change, but also the wish to improve the image of their own company. In addition they hope that by being first mover in environmental protection, they will build up a competitive advantage, as soon as the policy-makers raise the bar on standards to the level these companies are already applying.

Other solutions involve shifting freight to carriers that are more environmentally friendly. This can only be done through the use of legal incentives or regulations. Detthold Aden, Chairman of the BLG Logistics Group: “At the EU Conference in Bremen, I welcomed in principal a joint EU policy on the seas, on behalf of the federation of German sea port operators. This policy must promote growth and employment as an integrated overall strategy, and at the same time protect the environment – in the interests of the economic and ecological significance of the seas. The sea ports can make an important environmental contribution in terms of shifting freight from the roads to the sea routes. The high proportion of feeder transports with containers and vehicles is clear evidence of this.”

Others even go so far as to demand that the external costs of road transport should be charged to the causers – in other words the negative economic impact that comes from transport: the cost of traffic jams, health problems and climate consequences. It is an approach that is only sensible if applied across the whole of Europe. Such political measures can have an effect, as shown by another example: Following the packaging regulations introduced in 1991 many companies introduced returnable transport systems, which reduced the consumption of cardboard, plastic and other packaging. What new political solutions could be introduced? What measures can logistics companies take for themselves? And how can ecology, mobility and logistics be brought in line with each other? These and other questions will certainly be posed at the opening event for transport logistic 2007 and in the five days of the fair.

Further information: www.transportlogistic.de

About transport logistic
The 11th international trade fair for logistics, telematics and transport (12 to 15 June 2007 in Munich) presents the whole spectrum of the transport and logistics industry – telematics, in-company transport and material flow, logistics and freight transport. The fair aims to be a practical forum for information gathering and exchange in the diversely structured field of transporting freight – by road, rail, water and air. The visitor target groups of the fair are service-providers and decision-makers from the transport business, from industry, trade associations and freight logistics. In 2005 transport logistic attracted 1,333 exhibitors and around 40,000 visitors from a total of 103 countries. Over 1,500 exhibitors are expected to take part in transport logistic 2007. The statistics for the fair are independently audited on behalf of the Gesellschaft zur Freiwilligen Kontrolle von Messe- und Ausstellungszahlen (FKM), a society for the voluntary control of fair and exhibition statistics.

Messe München International (MMI) is one of the world´s leading trade-fair organisations. It organises around 40 trade fairs for capital and consumer goods, and new technology. Over 30,000 exhibitors from more than 100 countries, and over two million visitors from more than 200 countries take part each year in the trade fairs in Munich. In addition, MMI organises trade fairs in Asia, Russia, the Middle East and in South America. With four subsidiaries in Europe and Asia and 66 foreign representatives covering 89 countries, MMI has a truly global network.

Petra Gagel
Tel.: 49 89 / 9 49-20244, Fax: 49 89 / 9 49-20249
E-mail: petra.gagel@messe-muenchen.de
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