The Austrian transport and logistics company discusses its sustainability initiatives with Future in the wake of their success at the October 2023 3SAward ceremony
For nearly one hundred years, businesses of all sizes have entrusted LKW WALTER to manage their transportation. Through trucks, boats, and trains, the company provides that service that often goes underappreciated by the greater public: beyond product design, manufacturing, and advertising, LKW WALTER are the people who ensure a business’s goods make it safely to their intended destination.
The Austrian company has worked with Sofidel for more than 15 years, and this time-honored partnership has seen them rewarded twice at the Sofidel Sustainable Suppliers Award (3SAward), winning the Best Improver prize at the London event in 2017 and the Best Supplier – Logistic and Service at the 2023 ceremony in Lucca, Italy.
The Awards are bestowed according to Sofidel’s TenP Paper criteria, a self-assessment sustainability questionnaire sent out to all Sofidel’s suppliers. Drawn up in line with the Ten Principles of the United Nations Global Compact, suppliers are then graded Excellent, Sustainable, or Non-Sustainable based on their responses. In winning the 3SAward, LKW WALTER was recognized as the best-performing supplier in their category according to the criteria.
Speaking on behalf of the company, Holger Lotzow, sales director, described receiving the award as an ‘honor’. “[Winning] underscores our commitment to promoting environmentally friendly transportation, taking social responsibility and implementing sustainable solutions in our business processes,” he says. “This recognition encourages us to continue working on innovative and environmentally friendly solutions to make a positive impact on the world.”
“[Winning] underscores our commitment to promoting environmentally friendly transportation, taking social responsibility and implementing sustainable solutions in our business processes. This recognition encourages us to continue working on innovative and environmentally friendly solutions to make a positive impact on the world”
Holger Lotzow, sales director, LKW WALTER
The future is bright GREEN
LKW WALTER’s ‘GREEN transport’ initiative aims to reduce the company’s ecological footprint by investing in new technology and optimizing route-planning, as well as promoting their Combined Transport options that make use of rail and sea links. LKW WALTER hopes to increase rail and short sea transport for Sofidel from 30% to 50% of journeys in the forthcoming years, and as a company reduced their carbon emissions by 312,622 tons last year. Since 2010, the number of Combined Transports has been doubled.
Yet in the world of transportation and logistics, there are various challenges to overcome in order to achieve a sustainable business structure. “A change in mindset within companies to accept and implement more sustainable practices is particularly necessary,” believes Lotzow.
LKW WALTER themselves have demonstrated a sense of environmental responsibility since the 1950s, by which time they were already scheduling vehicles exclusively ‘in the round’ to avoid empty runs. But sustainability to them means more than just reducing emissions.
“CO₂ reduction is part of environmental protection, but numerous environmental activities at our sites also contribute to the issue of sustainability,” explains Lotzow. “Some of our most important environmental measures at the sites are a holistic energy management and energy monitoring, the in-house production of renewable energy through photovoltaic systems as well as the use of geothermal energy in combination with heat pumps. We also attach great importance to environmental training for our employees.”
A Great Place To Work
LKW WALTER, a certified ‘Great Place To Work’, is keen to protect its suppliers and employees across the board through the promotion of sports activities and healthy living. Road safety is also paramount, with truck drivers instructed through a variety of programs and initiatives in order to maintain good working conditions for all. LKW WALTER’s involvement in various European working groups to standardize load securing is underlined through its signing of the European Road Safety Charter in 2004, which aims to reduce continually the number of deaths on the European road network.
These achievements are all impressive, but what comes next? “As a traditional European company, we are focusing on the future more than ever,” says Lotzow. “All stakeholders, our employees, their families and our business partners benefit equally from economic prosperity and social cohesion. In this way we contribute to securing the social standards of all stakeholders and to creating new jobs in Europe.”
“All stakeholders, our employees, their families and our business partners benefit equally from economic prosperity and social cohesion. In this way we contribute to securing the social standards of all stakeholders and to creating new jobs in Europe”
Holger Lotzow, sales director, LKW WALTER
Alluding to developments in artificial intelligence, he continues, “Our company’s motto for the digital future of transport is “We make technology human”. We know that any technology is only implemented perfectly if it responds to people’s needs in a practical way.
“With the automation and modularization of our production processes, we master the high complexity of our current and future supply chains and create added value, predictability and resilience for our customers.”
Key to LKW WALTER’s development moving forward is the expansion of their flagship GREEN transport program, with the hope of providing sustainable transport solutions for full truck loads in Europe and reaching net-zero as a business by 2050. With such strong principles to guide them, there is no reason why the partnership between LKW WALTER and Sofidel won’t last for another fifteen years and far beyond.
Further details: For more information visit lkw-walter.com
