A freight forwarding best practice charter will be signed in Paris this June committing the signatories to some sustainable logistics methods. This is part of the new freight forwarding program that Paris has been developing over the last five years. The city wants to develop its logistics services and use much cleaner ways of transporting freight.
The underlying aim of the program is to both improve the environmental impact of freight forwarding whilst at the same time meeting the needs of the freight forwarding industry.
The program was deemed necessary owing to the amount of pollution produced by cargo forwarding. Freight forwarding has been shown to be the cause of over 25% of all greenhouse gas emissions.
As a result of the program, by next year vehicles that cause a lot of pollution and are over a certain size will only be able to operate within certain hours. Within three years, certain vehicles will be prohibited altogether and night time deliveries will have to conform to specific noise regulations.
In addition to this, the issue of parking in the city will also be addressed and freight forwarders will have to unload in thirty minutes although bays will be positioned in better places from a delivery perspective.
Paris is also trying to introduce a new way of thinking within the cargo forwarding industry. It is trying to encourage freight forwarding companies to transport more goods by rail than by road because rail transport is much better for the environment and causes less problems in the cities.
However, it is not just Paris that is trying to "clean up" the freight forwarding industry. In the UK, there is also an emphasis on finding more environmentally friendly ways to forward cargo. The British Waterways is actually trying to encourage companies to forward freight via canals instead of roads.