Every day, thousands of containers are transported globally by trucks for hinterland logistics—connecting ports with factories, warehouses, and final destinations. However, this extensive road transport contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions, harmful exhaust fumes, and noise pollution, which negatively impact people and wildlife.
Transitioning truck fleets worldwide to electric vehicles (EV trucks) is a crucial step toward sustainable logistics. However, this shift presents numerous challenges. E-trucks are up to three times more expensive than traditional diesel trucks, have shorter ranges, and face a lack of adequate charging infrastructure in most regions.
Additionally, customers must be willing to pay a premium for low-emission transport due to the higher costs involved.
“This is a gigantic task, but we must not be intimidated by it,” commented Birna Odefors, Managing Director of Maersk Area Nordics, which is home to a particularly large number of customers who are among the pioneers of decarbonised logistics.
One of Maersk’s pioneering Danish customers, Grundfos, an engineering company specializing in advanced pump solutions and water technology, is leveraging Maersk’s electric truck service. Containers are transported between their factory and the port of Aarhus using electric trucks. This pilot initiative began in October 2024 and is expected to scale up to approximately 600–800 containers annually in the future.
Since 2020, Grundfos has been among the first to adopt Maersk’s ECO Delivery Ocean product, which utilizes lower-carbon marine fuels for its seaborne containers. Currently, 100% of Grundfos’s ocean freight under Maersk care is transported using this solution.
By employing alternative fuels such as waste-based biodiesel and bio-methanol, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are reduced by up to 80% compared to fossil-based marine fuels. With the integration of electric road transport, tailpipe emissions from trucks are entirely eliminated, as these EV trucks are charged exclusively with renewable electricity.
Dirk Van Der Heijden, Sr Director of Global Logistics from Grundfos, commented: “After ocean freight port-to-port reduction, we really wanted to take the next step and also save emissions in pre-carriage of containers as well as the last mile to our plants or warehouse sites. The implementation of EV trucks on the roads in Denmark went very well and this is a good case for international expansion of EV trucks. In view of the dire climate consequences that we can see in the news almost every day, we cannot wait and must take action wherever we can. We as producers and exporters want to actively drive the topic of decarbonization of the supply chain and are pleased to partner with Maersk who is willing to try and implement new ways.”
