Sustainability
Mainfreight’s 100-year vision, established in its earliest days, has been a guiding principle in our commitment to sustainability. All decisions are made on the basis that we will be here for another 100 years, and are aligned with the key concepts of sustainability: investing in our people and communities, reducing the environmental impact of our activities, supporting our customer, supplier and other stakeholder relationships, and developing our growth strategies.
We Believe In Taking Responsibility
Sustainable logistics initiatives remain an environmental issue worldwide. We actively seek ways to leave the lightest possible imprint on the planet while continuously managing our operations to build a sustainable operating environment.
No matter where we are located in the world our commitment to sustainability, safety, health and the environment has been, and continues to be, a fundamental element of our operating practices and success to date. While our initiatives vary from country to country to achieve the greatest impact, we remain committed to these projects and to expanding them where practicable.
We are committed to exceeding minimum environmental standards where practicable. Our commitment to sustainability involves concerns for both natural and developed environments, and for the effective and economically and environmentally efficient use of resources.
We have always attempted to reduce the environmental impact of our operations. Our sustainability initiatives have often resulted in reduced costs; so the bottom line and the environment are both winners.
Climate change remains an issue for businesses and governments everywhere. For Mainfreight it begins with accepting that our business is based on an activity that generates carbon emissions and therefore taking responsibility to reduce those emissions over time while maintaining our competitiveness and ability to deliver quality services as our customers expect. We measure the carbon emissions we generate across our global operations.
We continue to lobby for the ability to move more domestic freight by rail particularly throughout New Zealand and Australia, because the simple fact is trucks emit 4.6 times more CO2 per tonne km carried than trains. It is critical for the wealth and productivity of all countries that rail services improve not only to reduce carbon emissions but also to improve the efficiency of their domestic transport infrastructures.
We have put together a Sustainability Overview, in which we have reported on economic, environmental, social and governance topics that Mainfreight believes are material to its business and the communities it operates in. Click here to access the online reader version
In Our Branches
- Major solar installations on our owned branches, totalling 812kWh capacity from a total of 2,828 panels
- Our leased properties across the Group including the Americas and Europe also support significant solar generation
- Water tanks - rain water harvesting
- Optimal daylight use - daylight harvesting
- Energy saving by lux measurement
- Thermal paint (less cooling required)
- Reduction of paper consumption
- Recycling compactors
- Plain pallets are recirculated between our transport network and customers
- Building and energy management system
- National electricity deal
- LED lighting in branches and warehouses
- Worm farms fed by branch food scraps
- Training centre driving best practices for our team and operations
On The Road / In Our Vehicles
- Route planning for efficiencies in time, distance and fuel consumption
- New vehicles compliant with the highest environmental standards
- Hybrid technology for smaller units
- Hybrid cars for team members
- Electric manual handling equipment (MHE) with fast charge systems
- Multi- modal options (road to rail and coastal shipping)
- Truck size management – small trucks for distribution / large trucks between cities
- Optimise shipment loads
- Off-peak distribution, particularly between cities and from ports
- Lightweight / high capacity vehicles creating more efficiencies
- Vehicle performance diagnostics on interstate and regional line haul units
- A range of compliance measures that will enhance driver well-being
