Greener transport with gas-powered trucks!

Every day, tons of goods and materials are shipped across Europe. A large part of that transport involves diesel-powered trucks, which emit large amounts of CO2. Fortunately, alternative fuels, that can reduce CO2 emissions from transport, have been introduced.

To strengthen their green profile, the trans­port company Frode Laursen in the Autumn of 2020 invested in 25 new trucks that can run on gas. Every day since January 2021, 5 of these trucks have driven with material from the Leca factory in Denmark to Leca / Fibo in Germany or directly to German cus­tomers.

The trucks are refueled with LNG (liquified natural gas) in Germany. The saving on CO2 compared to a standard diesel truck is approx.20%. "This type of truck is more expensive to purchase and maintain than die­sel trucks, but it is a necessary step to take to reduce CO2 emissions," says Torben Hjortshøj, Head of Department Road Continent, at Frode Laursen.

Frode Laursen wants to be ahead of the green development so they can meet customer demand for greener transporta­tion. Initially, part of the additional acqui­sition costs was offset by cheaper fuel, but today that price has almost tripled com­pared to the same time last year.  “We are constantly keeping an eye on de­velopments and are ready to invest when new solutions arise. Biofuels are only the beginning, whether the next step will be hydrogen, electricity or something com­pletely different we do not know, but we do know that we will be amongst the very first to buy the new types of trucks. We are a big emitter of CO2, but do what we can to reduce it,” Torben Hjortshøj says. 

The trucks can run on both biogas and nat­ural gas. In Germany, LNG (liquified natural gas) is refueled, while LBG (liquified biogas) is refueled in Sweden. “We have noticed that cus­tomers have become more and more in­terested in green transportation. Especially during 2021, we have met a constantly grow­ing demand and we see a change coming. We have already seen the change within con­struction, and now it has also come to the transport of, for example, building materials.”

From local haulier to international logistics company

Frode Laursen started as a local haulage company, but has grown and today oper­ates throughout the Nordic countries and a large part of Northern Europe. The com­pany is still family-owned and all adminis­tration is still located at the Vitten Head­quarters’, but today the company is a large Nordic logistics company. Torben Hjortshøj says that the company today, in addi­tion to the haulier segment, also offers 3PL (Third-party logistics) with warehouse hotels located in several places in Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Germany. “We pick up a large quantity of goods from a production company and drive it to our warehouse hotels. Here it is in stock until it has to be distributed in small quantities to the supermarkets.”

"Furthermore, the company has a branch that transports building materials, such as Leca LWA and a division called recycling, which transports waste."

Green vision all around

At Frode Laursen, they have a "Green Warehouse Vision". This means, for exam­ple, that solar cells are installed and that all electricity is 100% green. The trucks are washed using rain­water and purified washing water and 95% of all waste is recycled.

“Our latest warehouse in Eskilstuna in Sweden has been built from scratch, and here we have applied a green strat­egy throughout the construction process. Among other things, recycled materials have been used, the best possi­ble insulation and the roof is nitrogen oxide “absorbing”. We try to think green and sustainable all the way around,” Torben Hjortshøj concludes.

Why does Leca use Frode Laursen?

Why has Leca chosen to use the greener cars from Frode Laursen? Ole Lildballe, purchasing manager for Leca International, responds: “In 2019, Leca Denmark chose to start a collaboration with Frode Laursen on the transport of our Leca products, as they had com­petitive prices while at the same time understanding the importance of complying with our EHS rules. Fur­thermore, they are innovative and dare to be first movers on new technology such as gas-powered trucks, which in 2021 resulted in a saving of approx.60,000 kg CO2 for Leca transport to Germany."