26.08.2024 | Press release

Living climate protection! HGK Logistics and Intermodal is now using e-trucks

Cologne. The logistics service provider HGK Logistics and Intermodal GmbH (HGK LI), a subsidiary of Häfen und Güterverkehr Köln AG, part of the Stadtwerke Köln Group (SWK), is now also using electric lorries in its fleet. The company officially put two battery-electric 40-tonne tractor units into operation on 23 August. The declared aim is to use environmentally friendly and resource-saving e-trucks across the board in the future.

HGK Logistics and Intermodal officially put two battery-electric 40-tonne tractor units into operation in front of the HGK headquarters in Cologne.

Stadtwerke Köln Group CEO Andreas Feicht (left) and Markus Krämer, CEO of HGK Logistics and Intermodal, at the handover of the vehicles.

"The city of Cologne is to become climate-neutral by 2035. This is a major challenge that we are committed to as a company," says Markus Krämer, CEO of HGK Logistics and Intermodal. "The commissioning of the e-trucks is therefore a further step towards more green logistics. When implementing this, it is important that our customers work closely with us to establish sustainable transport. In addition, the production of renewable energies at our locations is required."

HGK Logistics and Intermodal is working closely with SWK's sister company RheinEnergie to purchase the vehicles. The project aims to save 40 tonnes of CO2 per year in shuttle transport and serve as a model for the logistics service provider's other locations. Among other things, the focus is on carrying out around 90,000 truck transports in container transport on the so-called last mile with alternatively powered trucks, thereby avoiding over 4,350 tonnes of CO2 per year.

The first two Volvo FH Electric vehicles with a range of up to 300 kilometres will be used in shuttle transport at the Ladenburg site in Baden-Württemberg for a customer in the pharmaceutical industry. The clean eco-balance is rounded off by the fact that the electricity for the two lorries comes from the company's own photovoltaic system, which was installed on the roofs of three HGK Logistics and Intermodal halls there in 2022 together with RheinEnergie. The system produces up to 3.6 gigawatt hours of green electricity per year.

The Federal Office for Logistics and Mobility (BALM) is implementing this funding measure totalling around 394,000 euros as the project sponsor on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport Affairs (BMDV) to reduce CO2 and pollutant emissions. In combination with the commitment of customers - whose own eco-balances are improved as a result - and the use of photovoltaic systems, the purchase and operation of e-trucks can be made economically viable.

"As CEO of both Stadtwerke Köln and RheinEnergie, I am delighted about this successful collaboration between HGK Logistics and Intermodal and RheinEnergie," emphasises Stadtwerke Köln CEO Andreas Feicht. "Such cooperation within the municipal utilities group makes economic and ecological sense. We are confident that we can now jointly transfer this blueprint to many HGK Group sites."

"Such cooperation within the municipal utility group makes economic and ecological sense."

Andreas Feicht, Head of the Stadtwerke Köln Group

Markus Krämer is happy to pick up the ball. "We see the commissioning of the first two e-trucks as a step on the road to climate neutrality. In doing so, we are gaining experience from which our customers will benefit. Our combined transport operations are already considered to be low-emission. In combination with e-trucks on the last mile, these transports will become even more sustainable. We now want to convince our customers of this."