2024-10-31

Ports play a key role in sustainable logistics
A central question of the circular economy is how products get to consumers and, above all, how they are collected again. At the Circular Valley Forum on November 15, the CEOs of the ports in Hamburg and Duisburg, among others, will be answering these questions.
Duisburg port I Source: Hans Blossey
Electronic devices, books, furniture, the weekly grocery shopping, toothpaste and diapers - consumers are used to having all their everyday essentials delivered to their doorstep. Until now, however, delivery services continue their rounds afterwards and only take back empties. If they would also transport packaging and spent goods, materials could be separated more cleanly and recycled more easily. That would be a major step forward for the circular economy.

The potential of circular logistics is an important topic at the Circular Valley Forum on November 15 in the Historische Stadthalle Wuppertal. More than 1,200 decision-makers are expected to attend the major meeting of the circular economy. They will hold large-scale discussions and confidential talks on current developments in the circular economy.

The panel on logistics includes Viktor Haase, State Secretary in the NRW Ministry of the Environment, Angela Titzrath and Markus Bangen, CEOs of the ports in Hamburg and Duisburg, Karlkristian Dischinger, CEO of logistics company Karl Dischinger, and Philipp Junge, COO of chemicals distributor OQEMA. They are all experts in perfectly digitalized and organized logistics on a large scale. At the Circular Valley Forum, they will discuss how this know-how can be applied to the last mile and reverse logistics.
Markus Bangen will then be reporting on Duisport's new container terminal, the first section of which has just been opened. The Duisburg Gateway Terminal (DGT) is a model project for the future of logistics in many respects: all goods movements are digitally controlled on an area the size of 33 soccer fields. The “enerPort II” project plays a key role in this.
Duisburg port I Source: Hans Blossey
This will demonstrate for the first time that even a terminal of this size can be operated in a completely climate-neutral manner with local generation of heat and electricity. A sustainable energy system will be installed on the DGT that combines renewables, energy storage, consumers and various hydrogen technologies. The key components for this are a photovoltaic system, fuel cell systems and hydrogen engines for power generation as well as battery storage.
A few weeks ago, Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) joined the initiative for environmentally friendly shipping. Together they want to implement the UN sustainability goals more quickly and all players along the value chain aim to work more closely together.
HHLA has already firmly established sustainable business practices in its business model: HHLA's CO₂ emissions are to be reduced by at least 50 percent by 2030, with the aim of achieving climate-neutral production by 2040. At the end of 2023, the Hamburg-based company had already reduced its CO₂ emissions by around 40 percent compared to 2018.
At the Circular Valley Forum, German experts can also discuss the next dimension of circular logistics: cross-border cooperation. North Rhine-Westphalia and Flanders have been working together in the circular economy since the 2023 Forum. A delegation from the neighboring country will attend the event in Wuppertal on November 15 - and will certainly want to discuss the possibilities of cooperating with the ports? in Antwerp.