Dachser UK

Monday, November 8th, 2010… Kempten/Berlin: The internationally operating logistics provider Dachser was one of 13 nominees invited to Berlin on Wednesday where it was awarded the GreenIT Best Practice AWARD 2010 in the category “energy-efficient IT systems”.

Dachser received the award for combining various different innovative concepts to produce a sustainable and effective overall solution:

1. Energy-efficient data centre

Dachser’s new data centre offers several innovations: In case of fire an argon fire protection system removes the oxygen from the air; this has no adverse impact on the environment as the inert gas argon is in any case a normal component of the mixture of gases that we know as “air”. In addition, the data centre is only cooled to 24°C rather than the usual 20°C, reducing energy consumption by 15%. For high-performance servers the logistics provider uses water-cooled racks. The energy-optimized data centre is configured to have separate warm and cold aisles and was constructed with a 100cm-high raised floor with flow ducts, noticeably improving cooling efficiency.

2. Use of Network Clients (NCs)

The data centre was only needed in the first place because when traditional work stations were replaced there was a move away from Personal Computers towards Network Clients. Today Dachser has around 7,000 NCs in use. These compact devices only require a tenth of the energy consumed by a PC. This saves the company 920,000 kWh of electricity and at the same time significantly reduces the amount of waste generated from electronic and electrical equipment.

3. Use of waste heat for new office building

Thanks to two heat exchangers, the waste heat from the data centre is collected and used to heat the office building completed in 2010. This contributes 300 kW, which is up to 50% of the energy required to heat the entire building. The remaining 50% is harvested by Dachser using geothermal probes. The result for the logistics provider is an annual saving of EUR 23,000 on the cost of heating from fossil fuels and a reduction in its annual CO2 emissions of 144 tonnes.

“Sustainability is firmly enshrined in Dachser’s corporate values,” says Michael Schilling, managing director of European Network Management & Logistics Systems at Dachser. “By combining various different techniques we have been able to generate both environmental and economic benefits for the business, in the interests of sustainability,” says Stefan Selbach, manager of Dachser’s Information Technology division.

In 2009 the family-owned company Dachser generated total revenue of EUR 3.2 billion. 17,500 staff working in 306 profit centres worldwide handled 41.8 million consignments weighing a total of 29.4 million tonnes.

PHOTO CAPTION:

Secretary of State Cornelia Rogall-Grothe, the German Government’s Commissioner for Information Technology, and Stefan Selbach, manager of

Dachser’s Information Technology division, at the Green IT award ceremony.

Dachser and terre des hommes start second phase of aid project

Even more education, plus measures to preserve the environment and natural resources: Five years after Dachser began its aid project in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, the first phase of the project has drawn to a close. Countless children and young people have successfully completed the training course conceived by Dachser and terre des hommes. Now it is a question of consolidating the results for the long term.

The logistics provider and the children’s relief organization are now embarking on the second phase of the project, based on moving “from education to sustainability”. One component will be promoting an awareness of the local environment. The project will be extended to include a programme on mitigating climate change. The primary objective is to continue to provide further education and training for children in Uttar Pradesh: The project partners will set up schools, training centres and libraries. At the same time a contribution will be made to preventing climate change by promoting socially responsible forestry, using renewable sources of energy and building biogas plants.

The second phase will not only follow on seamlessly from the first but will also build on it: Between July 2005 and September 2010 the internationally operating logistics provider Dachser donated a total of EUR 500,000 to the international children’s relief organization terre des hommes. This has enabled the aid project to guarantee regular schooling for numerous children, provide educational materials and sanitary facilities for 25 schools and construct two training centres where 1,500 girls and boys have been prepared for working life. The second phase of the project begins in October 2010. It will run for five years, over which time Dachser will contribute a total of EUR 400,000.

Self-initiative and personal responsibility are key to survival

The aim of the aid project is to encourage people to develop and strengthen their self-initiative. George Chira, project coordinator of terre des hommes in South Asia explains: “We wish to support the villagers in their efforts to stand up for their rights and also take responsibility for the future of their children.” Respecting nature, a subject close to the heart of the spokesman for the Dachser management, Bernhard Simon, goes hand in hand with this. “As a family-owned company we are conscious that we have both social and environmental responsibilities,” he says.

In 2009 Dachser generated total revenue of EUR 3.2 billion. 17,500 staff working in 306 profit centres worldwide handled 41.8 million consignments weighing a total of 29.4 million tonnes.

terre des hommes means “earth of humanity” and is an international, development policy-based, children’s relief organization, with around 400 projects in 29 countries. Its work focuses on helping children who have no alternative means of support.

Dachser has opened its new Copenhagen logistics centre on a 70,000-square-metre site in Hvidovre. The internationally operating logistics provider invested around EUR 20 million in the head office of Dachser Nordic A/S where it employs a staff of 95.

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Dachser managing director Michael Schilling and the managing director of Dachser Nordic A/S, Finn Skovbo Pedersen, welcomed numerous customers as well as guests from the worlds of politics and business.

Following the ground-breaking ceremony in June 2009 and the start of operations in mid-April 2010, the new facility has now been officially opened with a festive ceremony. The logistics centre has a 4,100-square-metre transshipment hall for industrial goods with 41 loading bays. The administrative and technology building covers 3,000 square metres. The branch is quickly reached via the E20 motorway and is just 13 kilometres from the centre of Copenhagen.

“This investment will strengthen our presence in Denmark and Scandinavia. Our customers appreciate the combination of regional competence and a closely meshed pan-European logistics network with intercontinental connections,” says Dachser managing director Michael Schilling.

Dachser is represented in Hvidovre through its European Logistics and Air & Sea Logistics business segments. As a major intersection in Dachser’s pan-European network for groupage system services, the logistics provider serves 13 national and international destinations via direct services from Hvidovre on a daily basis.

“We are one of only a few logistics providers in Denmark with an area-wide distribution system, enabling us to offer our customers a significant competitive advantage,” Pedersen says.

Attractive Employer

The Dachser family enterprise currently employs a staff of 95 at its Hvidovre location and nearly 200 in the country as a whole. Training is given high priority. Every year, Dachser in Denmark trains ten young people as qualified specialists in forwarding and logistics services and warehouse logistics specialists. “Well-trained, qualified and motivated staff are the decisive success factor in today’s logistics,” Pedersen says.

In 2009, Dachser generated total revenue of EUR 3.2 billion. 17,500 staff working in 306 profit centres worldwide handled 41.8 million consignments weighing a total of 29.4 million tonnes.