Panalpina reports on green airfreight

Panalpina published its first standalone sustainability report.

The 2013 Corporate Sustainability Report is a disclosure of the company’s sustainability performance to date.

Panalpina moved 825,000 tonnes of airfreight in 2013.

“Reducing the impact our vast global operations have on the environment is part of our daily work around the world, and we want to use the most comprehensive tools to report on this success,” said Lindsay Zingg, globally responsible for quality, health, safety and environment at Panalpina.

Panalpina uses 747-8 freighters to operate several E-freight port-to-port services to Europe, Hong Kong and the U.S. More than 7,800 tonnes of paperwork is transported each year, simple to provide documentation of the cargo on board the aircraft.

Panalpina is expanding its E-freight program each month, and aims to eliminate 80 percent of the document pouches for all general air cargo on Panalpina-controlled flights by 2015.

Panalpina also uses a new B747-8F for its air cargo services. The airplane provides a 16 percent increase in payload over the model previously used for the Luxembourg-Huntsville, Ala., route. It also has a 12 percent reduction in fuel burn, a 30 percent reduction in noise and a 12 percent reduction in CO2 emissions.

In addition to the environment, Panalpina also supports community-focused causes. Each year, a team in Europe sponsors an airfreight shipment of handcrafts from Africa. These works of art then get sold at a local street festival, the proceeds of which are used to benefit sick and homeless children in Kenya.

Panalpina has always reported on its sustainability work in its annual report, but this is the company’s first standalone report.

The report was prepared with the support of Sustainserv, an international sustainability consultancy.